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NARRATIVE 

THE EXPLOr/N)G expedition 

\ 

TO 
S 

THE ROCKY MOUNTArNB 

IN THE YEAR 1812, 
lib 

\ 

ANTI TO 

OREGON AND NORTH CALIFORNIA 

IN THE YEARS 1843-'44. 

V BY 

BREVET CAPTAIN J. C. FREMONT, 

OP THE TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEERS, 

i:'NI*:R the orders of cot,. J. J. ABERT, CHIEF OF THE TOPOGRAPHICAL BUREAU. 



SECOND F.DITToy. nEPUIJfTF.n FKOM THF. OFFICIAL COIT. 



(: 



'i 



WASHINGTON: 
PlTBLlSHED BY TAYLOR, WILDE, & Co. 



Sold by Taylor, Wilde, & Co., No. 3, Elliott's buildings, VV'ashixg- 

TON, D. C, AND AT JaRVIs's BUILDINGS, NoRTH STREET, BALTIMORE; 

W. Taylor, No. 2, Astor House, and Burgess, Stringer, & Co., 
New York; G. B. Zeiber, & Co., Philadelphia; Redding & Co., Sax- 
ton & Kelt, and Jordan, Swift, & Wiley, Boston ; Robinson & 
Jones, Cincinnati ; Noble & Dean, Louisville, and C. Marshall, 
Lexington, Ky. ; Amos Head, Charleston, S. C. ; J. C. Morgan, J. 
B. Steel, and W. McKean, New Orleans, and by all the princi- 
pal booksellers throughout the United States. 

mdcccxlV 



4 



.s 



TO THE 

HON. THOMAS HART BENTON, 

Senator of the United States from Missouri, 

The following pages, comprising the Narrative of Captain 
Fremont's first and second expeditions, the condnct of which 
reflects so much honor on the character and talents of that 
most meritorious officer, whilst the results redound so amply 
to the credit of the country, and to the promotion of know- 
ledge and all the best interests of mankind, is (with permis- 
sion) very respectfully dedicated by 

THE PUBLISHER. 

Washington City, 1845. 



^:f 



PUBLISHER'S PREFACE. 



Although large editions of the reports of these two important and most interesting exiieditioiis 
were printed by order of Congress, yet it has been supposed that the public demand would not 
be thereby fully met. It was also judged expedient to prmt the work in a shape which might 
render it accessible to every reader; divesting it of the scientific details, and the astronomical 
observations and calculations, which, although of the highest importance to the learned few, could 
not be supposed to afford material interest to the general reader. A work of this description should 
possess every facility for dissemination. There is not an individual in our entire population to 
whom its details are not of importance; there is scarcely one to whom its pages will not afford 
great interest. To every citizen of the United States it addresses itself with peculiar force, as re- 
lating entirely to American affairs, as being the result of American enterprise and skill, and as 
developing matters of the utmost importance to American interests. It is entirely a home manu- 
facture, and it needs no other protection than that cheering approbation which the publisher feels 
sure the patriotism of his fellow-citizens will award to so meritorious a production. To the sci- 
entific public abroad, as well as to the liberal minded and inquiring reader of every country, the 
work will be very acceptable; exhibiting as it does a new page in the history of the world's sur- 
face, and spreading out before the eyes of mankind some of the grandest scenes in nature, which 
had scarcely ever before been viewed by civilized man. 

Captain Fkf.moxt appears to have been peculiarly well adapted for the command of these ex- 
peditions. Possessed of more than an average share of bodily vigor, and mental energy and ca- 
pacity- qualified by scientific attainments, and an ardent love of nature; and imbued with a taste 
for investigating the arcana of the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, firm, yet concil- 
iatory in his intercourse; modest, yet dignified in his manners; utterly regardless of self, but feel- 
ingly alive to the comforts, the rights, and the piivileges of others; blending the decision and the 
vigor of a strict disciplinarian, with the kindness and consideration of a fiiend, to all who shared 
with him the perils and privations of his arduous journeyings — with this combination of qualities, 
his success is not to be wondered at. Seldom have so many accessories to success been united m 
Ihe leader of such expeditions. 

The first of these expeditions terminated at the Rocky mountains, and at the two points of 
greatest interest in that ridge — namely, the South Pass, and Fremont's Peak; the former being the 
lowest depression of the mountains, through which the road to Oregon now passes; and the latter 
the highest elevation, from the base of which four great rivers take their rise, and flow in opi>o- 
site directions, toward the rising and the setting sun. The second, after approaching the 
mountains by a different route, connects with the first expedition at the South Pass, and thence 
finds the great theatre of its labors west of the Rocky mountains, and between the Oregon 
river and North California. The third expedition, now commencing, will be directed to that sec- 
lion of the Rocky mountains which gives rise to the Arkansas, the Kio Grande del Norte, and the 
Rio Colorado of California; and will extend west and southwest of that section, so as to examine 
the country towards the Pacific ocean, ascertain the lines of comnmnication between the mountains 
and the ocean in that latitude, and complete the examination of the Great Salt Lake, and of the 
interesting region which embosoms it. 

The first expedition west of Die Mississippi, under the direction of the Uovcrnnienl of the United 
iSlates, was that of Lkwis and Clarke, which has been justly characterized as one of the most 
"extraordinary of the age. It wai made in 1801, '5, and '6. These buld adventurers first mad« 



IV PREFACE. 

us acquainted with the Rocky mountains, and the numerous tribes of Indians who dwelt in their 
proximity, as well as with the country west of the mountains to the mouth of the Columbia river. 
The expedition was conducted with much skill and bravery, and we are under great obligations to 
these hardy pioneers upon an until then untrodden path. 

The next expedition was that of Major Z. M. Pike, in 1805, '6, and '7. This expedition was 
confined to the upper waters of the Mississippi and the western part of Louisiana. Its conduct re- 
flected much credit upon the gallant commanding officer. 

We believe that nothing more was done towards exploring these western wilds until 1819, when 
an expedition to the Rocky mountains was planned, and the command thereof placed in the hands 
of Major (now Colonel) S. H. Loxg, of the Topon;raphical Engineers. Major Lost; commanded 
two expeditions — the first, in I819-'20, to the Rocky mountains; the second, in 1823, to the 
sources of the Saint Peter, the Lake of the Woods, &c. Several scientific gentlemen were at- 
tached to these expeditions, and the accounts which have been published of them, extending to 
four octavo volumes, may be justly considered as being the first methodical and scientific notice of 
the countries visited. Wc are indebted to Major Lono, and to the scientific corps who accon>pa- 
nied him, for many exact geographical positions, and for a great amount of matter highly illustra- 
tive of the productions, natural history, and inhabitants of those distant regions. 

Another expedition, under Governor Cass, assisted by Mr. Schoolcraft and other gentlemen, 
visited the head waters of the Mississippi in 1820, and furnished the best map then extant of U.ie 
country adjacent to Lake Superior, and south of it. 

Colonel Henry Dodge, of the United States army, commanded a squadron of dragoons on an 
expedition from Fort Leavenworth to the Rocky mountains, in the summer of 183.'). The dis- 
tance travelled was about sixteen hundred miles; and although it cannot be said that the expedition' 
added much to our geographical or scientific knowledge of any kind, it was conducted with greab 
judgment on the part of its gallant commander, and was probably the means of establishing peace 
among all the different tribes of Indians residing between the rivers Arkansas and Platte. 

Captain Can field, of the Topographical Engineers, made a survey of a road from the vicinity 
of Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri, to that of Fort Snelling, on the Mississippi, in the year 
1838. 

Mr. McCoif, of Missouri, surveyed the boundaries of certain Indian reservations. These sur- 
veys were afterwaids revised, in part, by the late Captain Hood, of the Topograj^liical Engineers. 

It is believed that these expeditions and surveys, with a few other partial surveys and isolated 
observations of particular places, constitute all that had ijeen done, of a nature approaching to ac- 
curacy, until the year 1838. 

Mr. Nicollet, a French gentleman of high scientific attainments, was engaged at his own ex- 
pense, as a scientific traveller, from 1833 to 1838, in a tour to the region west of the upper Mis- 
sissippi. The result of his researches was a map of the country, full of information, and sus- 
tained by a numerous series of excellent astronomical observations. His various journeys were 
carefully traced upon it, and all the information collated, well digested, and accurately compiled. 
It gave new ideas of thit country, and extended througli about live degrees of longitude and four 
degrees of latitude. This map was purchased by the Government, and Mr. Nicollet after- 
wards employed \o make a similar scientific reconnoifsance in the region north of the Missouri, and 
between the Missouri and the Mississippi. Mr. Frkmoxt accompanied Mr. Nicollet, as his as- 
sistant; and this was his first cs-say as an explorer. Mr. Fkemox r received a commission as lieu- 
tenant in the Topographical Engineers, in the fall of 1838. 'r\\c expedition was engaged in its 
duties during the working seasons of 1838 and 1839, and returned to Washington in the winto' 
of the latter year, to prepare the maps and calculations. 

Government being dtsirous to possess geographical information of the country south of the Mis- 
souri, between that rivet and the Rocky mountains, and Mr. Nicollet being then (April, 1842) 
sulfcring from that prostvation and sickness under which Ive finally sunk,, in the fall of that year 



PREFACE. V 

the command of this new expedition was confided to Lieutenant Fre:»ion-t, who had manifested 
great zeal, intelligence, and aptitude for such an employment, during his services as assistant to 
Mr. Nicollet. 

The following narrative will sufficiently manifest Lieutenant Fhemont's worthmess of the trust 
reposed in him during this and the succeeding expedition. As evidence of the estimate which 
Government has placed upon his services and labors, it may be here stated, that the President, by 
and with the consent of the yeuate, in March last, bestowed upon Lieutenant Fremont the brevet 
commission of Captain, advancing him two gradcfe at the same time — a rare compliment, but one 
which, we believe, all will unite with us in saying, was well earned and richly deserved. 

The publisher thinks that this brief outline of what had been done towards the exploring the 
Western wilds, previous to the expeditions of Captain Fremont, will not be uninteresting to the 
puljlic. He acknowledges his indebtedness for the materials to a communication which appeared in 
" The Union" a few weeks since, and which hears the marks of official correctness. 

Captain Fremont's labors have added much to our previous information in a geographical, com- 
mercial, and scientific point of view. The following extract from a review of his *' reports," 
which appeared in the " National Intelligencer" during the last month, will prepare the reader for 
the full development made in the following pages. 

"In geographical discovery Captain Fremont iias done much : he has shown that the transit 
across the Rocky mountains, particularly at the Southern Pass, is comparatively easy ; that the 
j)roportion of absolutely barren country is small ; thai, from within one hundred and fifty miles of 
the Missouri frontier to the longitude of Fort Laramie, (105° 40',) there is in general great plenty 
of the short curly grass called buflalo grass. Westward of Laramie, for a considerable distance, 
the region is sandy and apparently sterile, and the place of the grass is usur[)ed by the artcmisia; 
other locaHties, where there is a deficiency of pasturage, are found on both sides of the mountains. 
These expeditions, however, will furnish to trading caravans, or to emigrating parties, a knowledge 
of the most practicable routes, where they may most generally find sustenance for their animals, 
and water and fuel for themselves. The road to Oregon will be made comparatively easy ; and 
although the emigrant who contemplates taking up his line of march to that distant region ought 
to be apprized of, and guarded against, the dampers, the ftifficulties, and the privations he ivill 
have to encounter, yet he may be cheered by the certainty that he will meet with nothing but what 
foresight and prudence may in a great measure protect him from, and courage, firmness, and per- 
severance overcome. He will he called upon to exercise all these qualities ; and the most danger- 
ous error into which he can fall is to imagine that the journey is an easy one, and the toil and 
sufl'ering which he will have to undergo trifling and unimportant. 

"The Great Salt Lake, the Bear Kiver Valley, and the rivers, the valleys, apd the mountains of 
Upper California, may be said to be now fir.st brought to the knowledge of civilized man by these 
expeditions. The correction of our former geographical errors with respect to the river Buenaven- 
tura we owe to Captain Fuemont ; the existence of a great central plain or basin in California is 
established by him, as is also the important fact that there is no river of any navigable size which 
has its mitlit dirfdii/ into the Pacific, and communicates ivilhthe western .slope of our continent, 
except tlic Coluinljia, between fifty degrees of northern latitude and the (Julf of California. In a 
militaiy point of view, these expeditions point out where forts and posts may be most advantageously 
established, with a view to the safe occui)ancy of the country and the i)rulection of tlie inhabitants 
and the trader from Indian outrage, vir from aggressions or interferences of any kind. This, 
we believe, was the professedly authorized object of (Captain Fremont's expeditions ; but his ardent 
ami active temperament, and his lave of science and knowledge, could not rest satisfied with a bare 
performance of prescribed duties. He has submitted to his countrymen and the world, in Iris un- 
pretending and modest narrative, a vast body of botanical, geological, and meteorological informa- 
tion. The soil and the mineral waters have been subjected to analysis. More than four hundred 
and thirty astronomical observations are recorded, the latitude and longitude of important points 
accurately determined, and the elevation of mountains ascertained. The survey of Captain Fre- 
mont from the eastward meets that of Cai)tain Wii.kks from the westward, and, so far as is requi- 
site for all immediate j)ractica} piuposes, tlic map of Oregon is complete." 

One great merit of Captain Fhemost as a travelly is expres.sed in the concluding sentence o* 
his prefatory notice. He says : 

"The report, or narrative, of this extended cxjicdition, like the majis which illusfratc it, will be 
strictly confined to what was seen, and lo what is necessary to show the face and character of the 
country, and to add something to si-ience while fulfilling the instructions of the (Jc^ermnent, which 



vi PREFACE. 

chiefly contemplated a military topographical survey. A greater degree of popular interest might 
have been imparted to it by admitting a greater latitude of detail; but it was deemed best to adhere 
to the rigorous character of a report, and to present nothing, either in the narrative or in the maps, 
which was not the result of positive obsei-vation. " 

Captain Fremont is now absent on his third expedition ; we look forward to his return with 
much pleasing anticipation. We feel assured that the combination of the results of his three visits 
to the " West" will form a production worthy of this enlightened age, worthy of our country 
and our Government, and highly creditable to its author. It will be, we are convinced, a fit offer- 
ing at the shrine of literature and science, from our young and flourishing Republic, by the hands 
of one of her most talented and amiable sons. 

With these prefatory observations, we submit the following narrative to the public, and feel that 
we are oftering a rich feast of intellectual enjoyment to a very numerous portion of our fellow- 
citizens. 

Washington, 1845. 



A REPORT 



AN EXPLORATION OF THE COUNTRY 



ITINQ BETWEEN THK 



MISSOURI RIVER AND THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, 



ox THE LINE OF 



THE KANSAS AND GREAT PLATTE RIVERS. 



FIRST EXPEDITION— '1842. 



Washington, March 1, 1843. 
To Colonel J. J. Abert, 

Chief of the Corps of Topographical Engineers : 
Sir : Agreeably to your orders to explore and report upon the country 
between the frontiers of Missouri and the South Pass in the Rocky moun- 
tains, and on the line of the Kansas and Great Platte rivers, I sat out from 
VV^ashington city on the 2d day of May, 1S42, and arrived at St. Louis, by 
way of New York, the 22d of May, where the necessary preparations were 
completed, and the expedition commenced. I proceeded in a steamboat to 
Chouteau's landing, about four hundred miles by water from St. Louis, 
and near the mouth of the Kansas river, whence we proceeded twelve 
miles to Mr. Cyprian Chouteau's trading house, where we completed our 
final arrangements for the expedition. 

Bad weather, which interfered with astronomical observations, delayed 
us several days in the early part of June at this post, which is on the right 
bank of the Kansas river, about ten miles above the mouth, and six be- 
yond the western boundary of Missouri. The sky cleared oft' at length, 
and we were enabled to determine our position, in longitude 94° 25' 46", 
and latitude 39° 5' 57". The elevation above the sea is about 700 feet. 
Our camp, in the mean time, presented an animated and bustling scene. 
All were busily occupied in completing the necessary arrangements for 
our campaign in the wilderness, and profiting by this short delay on the 
verge of civilization, to provide ourselves with all the little essentials to 
comfort in the nomadic life we were to lead for the ensuing summer 
months. Gradually, however, every thing — the materiel of the camp, men, 
liorses, and even mules — settled into its place, and by the 10th we were 
ready to depart; but, before we mount our horses, I will give a short de- 
scription of the party with which I performed this service. 

I had collected in the neighborhood of St. I^ouis twenty-one men, prin- 
cipally Creole and Canadian voyugeurs, who had become familiar with 
prairie life in the service of the fur companies in the Indian country. Mr. 
Charles Preuss, a native of Germany, was my assistant in the topographi- 
cal part of the survey. L. Maxwell, of Kaskaskia, had been engaged as 
lumter, and Christopher Carson (more familiarly known, for his exploits in 
the mountains, as Kit Carson) was our guide. The persons engaged in 
St. Louis were : 

Clement Lambert, J. B. L'Esperance, J. B. Lefcvre, Benjamin Poira, 
Louis Gonin, J. B. Dumcs, Basil Lajeunesse, Frangois Tessier, Benjamin 
Cadotte, Joseph Clement, Daniel Simonds, Leonard Benoit, Michel Morly, 
Baptiste Bernier, Honore Ayot, Francois Latulippe, Franyois Badeaii, 
Louis .Menard, Joseph Ruelle, Moise Chardonnais, Augusts Janisse, Ra- 
phael Prone 

1 



10 CAPT. FREMONT'S NAERATIVE. [1842. 

In addition to these, Henry Brant, son of Col. J. B. Brant, of St. Louis, 
a young man of nineteen years of age, and Randolph, a lively boy of 
twelve, son of the Hoji. Thomas PI. Benton, accompanied me, for the de- 
velopment of mind and body which such an expedition would give. We 
were all well armed and mounted, with tlie exception of eight men, who 
conducted as many carts, in which were packed our stores, with the bag- 
gage and instruments, and which were each drawn by two mules. A few 
loose horses, and four oxen, which had been added to our stock of pro- 
visions, completed the train. We sat out on the morning of the 10th, 
which happened to be Friday — a circumstance wiiich our men did not fail 
to remember and recall during the hardships and vexations of the ensuing 
journey. Mr. Cyprian Chouteau, to whose kindness, during our stay at 
his house, we were much indebted, accompanied us several miles on our 
way, until we met an Indian, whom he had engaged to conduct us on the 
first thirty or forty miles, where he was to consign us to the ocean of 
prairie, which, we were told, stretched without interruption almost to the 
base of the Rocky mountains. 

From the belt of wood which borders the Kansas, in which we had 
passed several good-looking Indian farms, we suddenly emerged on tlie 
prairies, whicli received us at the outset with some of their striking char- 
acteristics ; for here and there rode an Indian, and but a few miles distant 
heavy clouds of smoke were rolling before the fire. In about ten miles 
we reached the Santa Fe road, along which we continued for a short time, 
and encamped early on a small stream ; having travelled about eleven 
miles. During our journey, it was the customary practice to encamp an 
hour or two before sunset, when the carts were disposed so as to form a 
sort of barricade around a circle some eighty yards in diameter. The 
tents were pitched, and the horses hobbled and turned loose to graze ; 
and but a few minutes elapsed before the cooks of the messes, oi which 
there were four, were busily engaged in preparing the evening meal. At 
nightfall, the horses, mules, and oxen, were driven in and picketed — 
that is, secured by a halter, of which one end was tied to a small steel - 
shod picket, and driven into the ground ; the halter being twenty or thirty 
feet long, which enabled them to obtain a little food during the night. 
When we had reached a part of the country where such a precaution be- 
came necessary, the carts being regularly arranged for defending the 
camp, guard was mounted at eight o'clock, consisting of three men, who 
were relieved every two hours; the morning watch being horse guard for 
the day. At daybreak, the camp was roused, the animals turned loose to 
graze, and breakfast generally over between six and seven o'clock, when 
we resumed our march, making regularly a halt at noon for one or two 
hours. Such was usually the order of the day, except when accident of 
country forced a variation; which, however, happened but rarely. We 
travelled the next day along the Santa Fe road, which we left in the af- 
ternoon, and encamped late in the evening on a small creek, called by the 
Indians Mishmagwi. Just as we arrived at camp, one of the horses set 
off at full speed on his return, and was followed by others. Several men 
were sent in pursuit, and returned with the fugitives about midnight, 
with the exception of one man, who did not make his appearance until 
morning. He had lost his way in the darkness of the night, and slept on 
the prairie. Shortly after midnight it began to rain heavily, and, as our 
tents were of light and thin cloth, they offered but little obstruction to 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. H 

raiti ; we were all well soaked, and glad when morning came. We had a 
rainy march on the 12th, but the weather grew fine as the day advanced. 
We encamped in a remarkably beautiful situation on the Kansas bluffs, 
which commanded a fine view of the river valley, here from three to four 
miles wide. The central portion v/as occupied by a broad belt of heavy 
timber, and nearer the hills the prairies were of the richest verdure. One 
of the oxen was killed here for food. 

We reached the ford of the Kansas late in the afternoon of the 14th, 
where the river was two hundred and thirty yards wide, and commenced, 
immediately preparations for crossing. I had expected to find the river 
fordable ; but it had been swollen by the late rains, and was sweeping by 
with an angry current, yellow and turbid as the Missouri. Up to this 
point, the road we had travelled was a remarkably fine one, well beaten, 
and level — the usual road of a prairie country. By our route, the ford was 
one hundred miles from the mouth of the Kansas river. Several mounted 
men led the way into the stream, to swim across. The animals were 
driven in after them, and in a few minutes all had reached the opposite 
bank in safety, with the exception of the oxen, which swam some dis- 
tance down the river, and, returning to the right bank, were not got over 
until the next morning. In the mean time, the carts had been unloaded 
and dismantled, and an India-rubber boat, which I had brought with me 
for the survey of the Platte river, placed in the water. The boat was 
twenty feet long and five broad, and on it were placed the body and 
wheels of a cart, with the load belonging to it, and three men with paddles. 

The velocity of the current, and the inconvenient freight, rendering it 
difficult to be managed, Basil Lajeunesse, one of our best swimmers, took 
in his teeth a line attached to the boat, and swam ahead in order to reach 
a footing as soon as possible, and assist in drawing her over. In this man- 
ner, six passages had been successfully made, and as many carts with their 
contents, and a greater portion of the party, deposited on the left bank ; 
but night was drawing near, and, in our anxiety to have all over before 
the darkness closed in, I put upon the boat the remaining two carts, with 
their accompanying load. The man at the helm was timid on water, and, 
in his alarm, capsized the boat. Carts, barrels, boxes, and bales, were in 
a moment floating down the current : but all the men who were on the 
shore jumped into the water, without stopping to think if they ceuld 
swim, and almost everything — even heavy articles, such as guns and lead — 
was recovered. 

Two of the men, who could not swim, came nigh being drowned, and 
all the sugar belonging to one of the messes wasted its sweets on the 
muddy waters ; but our heaviest loss was a bag of coffee, which con- 
tained nearly all our provision. It was a loss which none but a traveller 
in a strange and inhospitable country can appreciate ; and oftoi afterward, 
when excessive toil and long marching had overcome us with fatigue and 
weariness, we remembered and mourned over our loss in the Kansas. 
Carson and Maxwell had been much in the water yesterday, and both, in 
consequence, were taken ill. The former continuing so, I remained in 
camp. A number of Kansas Indians visited us to-day. Going up to one 
of the groups who were scattered among the trees, I found one sitting on 
the ground, among some of the men, gravely and fluently speaking French, 
• with as much facility and as little embarrassment as any of my own party, 
who were nearly all of French origin. 



12 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

On all sides was heard the strange language of his own people, wild, 
and harmonizing well with their appearance. I listened to him for some 
time with feelings of strange curiosity and interest. He was now appa- 
rently thirty-five years of age ; and, on inquiry, I learned that he had been 
at St. Louis when a boy, and there had learned the French language. 
From one of the Indian women 1 obtained a fine cow and calf in exchange 
for a yoke of oxen. Several of them brought us vegetables, pumpkins, 
onions, beans, and lettuce. One of them brought butter, and from a half- 
breed near the river I had the good fortune to obtain some twenty or 
thirty pounds of coffee. The dense timber in which we had encamped 
interfered with astronomical observations, and our wet and damaged 
stores required exposure to the sun. Accordingly, the tents were struck 
early the next morning, and, leaving camp at six o'clock, we moved about 
seven miles up the river, to a handsome, open prairie, some twenty feet 
above the water, where the fine grass aflbrded a luxurious repast to our 
horses. 

During the day we occupied ourselves in making astronomical observa- 
tions, in order to lay down the country to this place ; it being our custom 
to keep up our map regularly in the field, which we found attended with 
many advantages. The men were kept busy in drying the provisions, 
painting the cart covers, and otherwise completing our equipage, until the 
afternoon, when powder was distributed to them, and they spent some 
hours in firing at a mark. We were now fairly in the Indian country, and 
it began to be time to prepare for the chances of the wilderness. 

Friday, June 17. — The weather yesterday had not permitted us to make 
the observations I was desirous to obtain here, and I therefore did not 
move to-day. The people continued their target firing. In the steep bank 
of the river here, were nests of innumerable swallows, into one of which 
a large prairie snake had got about half his body, and was occupied in 
eating the young birds. The old ones were flying about in great distress, 
darting at him, and vainly endeavoring to drive him off. A shot wound- 
ed him, and, being killed, he was cut open, and eighteen young swallows 
were found in his body. A sudden storm, that burst upon us in the after- 
noon, cleared away in a brilliant sunset, followed by a clear night, which 
enabled us to determine our position in longitude 95° 3S' 05", and in lati- 
tude 39° 06' 40". 

A party of emigrants to the Columbia river, under the charge of Dr. 
White, an agent of the Government in Oregon Territory, were about three 
weeks in advance of us. They consisted of men, women, and children. 
There were sixty-four men, and sixteen or seventeen families. They had 
a considerable number of cattle, and were transporting their household 
furniture in large heavy wagons. I understood that there had been much 
sickness among them, and that they had lost several children. One of the 
party, who had lost his child, and whose wife was very ill, had left them 
about one hundred miles hence on the prairies; and as a hunter, who had 
accompanied them, visited our camp this evening, we availed ourselves of 
his return to the States to write to our friends. 

The morning of the 18th was very unpleasant. A fine rain was falling, 
with cold wind from the north, and mists made the river hills look dark 
and gloomy. We left our camp at seven, journeying along the foot of the 
hills which border the Kansas valley, generally about three miles wide, 
and extremely rich. We halted for dinner, after a march of about thir- 



1842.] C'APT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 13 

teen miles, on the banks of one of the many little tributaries to the Kan- 
sas, which look like trenches in the prairie, and are usually well timbered. 
After crossing this stream, I rode off some miles to the left, attracted by 
the appearance of a cluster of huts near the mouth of the Vermillion. It 
was a large but deserted Kansas village, scattered in an open wood, along 
the margin of the stream, on a spot chosen with the customary Indian 
fondness for beauty of scenery. The Pawnees had attacked it in the early 
spring. Some of the houses were burnt, and others blackened with smoke, 
and weeds were already getting possession of the cleared places. Riding 
up the Vermillion river, I reached the ford in time to meet the carts, and, 
crossing, encamped on its western side. The weather continued cool, the 
thermometer being this evening as low as 49°; but the night was sufficiently 
clear for astronomical observations, which placed us in longitude 96° 04' 
07", and latitude 39° 15' 19". At sunset, the barometer was at 28.845, 
thermometer 64°. 

We breakfasted the next morning at half past five, and left our encamp- 
ment early. The morning was cool, the thermometer being at 45°. Quit- 
ting the river bottom, the road ran along the uplands, over a rolling country, 
generally in view of the Kansas, from eight to twelve miles distant. Many 
large boulders, of a very compact sandstone, of various shades of red, some 
of them four or five tons in weight, were scattered along the hills ; and 
many beautiful plants in flower, among which the amorpha canescens 
was a characteristic, enlivened the green of the prairie. At the heads of 
the ravines I remarked, occasionally, thickets of salix lungifolia, the most 
common willow of the country. We travelled nineteen miles, and pitched 
our tents at evening on the head waters of a small creek, now nearly dry, 
but having in its bed several fine springs. The barometer indicated a 
considerable rise in the country — here about fourteen hundred feet above 
the sea — and the increased elevation appeared already to have some slight 
influence upon the vegetation. The night was cold, with a heavy dew; 
the thermometer at 10 p. ra. standing at 46°, barometer 28.483. Our 
position was in longitude 96° 14' 49", and latitude 39° 30' 40". 

The morning of the 20th was fine, with a southerly breeze and a bright 
sky ; and at 7 o'clock we were on the march. The country to-day was 
rather more broken, rising still, and covered every where with fragments 
of siliceous limestone, particularly on the summits, where they were small, 
and thickly strewed as pebbles on the shore of the sea. In these exposed 
situations grew but few plants; though, whenever the soil was good and 
protected from the winds, in the creek bottoms and ravines, and on the 
slopes, they flourished abundantly; among them the amorphn, still re- 
taining its characteristic place. We crossed, at 10 a. m., the Big Vermillion, 
which has a rich bottom of about one mile in breadth, one-third of which 
is occupied by timber. Making our usual halt at noon, after a day's 
march of twenty-four miles, we reached the Big Blue, and encamped on 
the uplands of the western side, near a small creek, where was a fine 
large spring of very cold water. This is a clear and handsome stream, 
about one hundred and twenty feet wide, running, with a rapid current, 
through a well-timbered valley. To-day antelope were seen running 
over the hills, and at evening Carson brought us a fine deer. Longitude 
of the camp 96° 32' 35", latitude 39° 45' OS". Thermometer at sunset 
75°. A pleasant southerly breeze and fine morning had given place to a 
gale, with indications of bad weather ; when, after a march of ten miles, 



14 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

we halted to noon on a small creek, where the water stood in deep pools. 
In the bank of the creek limestone made its appearance in a stratum about 
one foot thick. In the afternoon, the people seemed to suffer for want of 
water. The road led along a high dry ridge; dark lines of timber indicated 
the heads of streams in the plains below ; but there was no water near, 
and the day was very oppressive, with a hot wind, and the thermometer 
at 90°. Along our route the amorpha has been in very abundant but va- 
riable bloom — in some places bending beneath the weight of purple clus- 
ters ; in others without a flower. It seems to love best the sunny slopes, 
with a dark soil and southern exposure. Every where the rose is met 
with, and reminds us of cultivated gardens and civilization. It is scat- 
tered over the prairies in small bouquets, and, when glittering in the dews 
and waving in the pleasant breeze of the early morning, is the most beau- 
tiful of the prairie flowers. The arternisia, absinthe, or prairie sage, as 
it is variously called, is increasing in size, and glitters like silver, as the 
southern breeze turns up its leaves to the sun. All these plants have 
their insect inhabitants, variously colored; taking generally the hue of the 
flower on which they live. The arternisia has its small fly accompany- 
ing it through every change of elevation and latitude ; and wherever I 
have seen the asclepias ticberosa, I have always remarked, too, on the 
flower a large butterfly, so nearly resembling it in color as to be distin- 
guishable at a little distance only by the motion of its wings. Travelling 
on the fresh traces of the Oregon emigrants relieves a little the loneliness 
of the road ; and to-night, after a march of twenty-two miles, we halted 
on a small creek, which had been one of their encampments. As we ad- 
vance westward, the soil appears to be getting more sandy, and the sur- 
face rock, an erratic deposite of sand and gravel, rests here on a bed of 
coarse yellow and gray and very friable sandstone. Evening closed over 
with rain and its usual attendant, hordes of musquitoes, with which we 
were annoyed for the first time. 

June 22. — We enjoyed at breakfast this morning a luxury, very unusual 
in this country, in a cup of excellent coffee, with cream from our cow. 
Being milked at night, cream was thus had in the morning. Our mid-day 
halt was at Wyeth's creek, in the bed of which were numerous boulders 
of dark ferruginous sandstone, mingled with others of the red sandstone, 
already mentioned. Here a pack of cards, lying loose on the grass, mark- 
ed an encampment of our Oregon emigrants ; and it was at the close of 
the day when we made our bivouac in the midst of some well-timbered 
ravines near the Little Blue, twenty-four miles from our camp of the pre- 
ceding night. Crossing the next morning a number of handsome creeks, 
with clear water and sandy beds, we reached, at 10 a. m., a very beautiful 
wooded stream, about thirty-five feet wide, called Sandy creek, and some- 
times, as the Ottoes frequently winter there, the Ottoe fork. The country 
has become very sandy, and the plants less varied and abundant, with the 
exception of the amorpha, which rivals the grass in quantity, though not 
so forward as it has been found to the eastward. 

At the Big Trees, where we had intended to noon, no water was to be 
found. The bed of the little creek was perfectly dry, and, on the adjacent 
sandy bottom, c«c/z, for the first time, made their appearance. We made 
here a short delay in search of water; and, after a hard day's march of 
twenty-eight miles, encamped, at 5 o'clock, on the Little Blue, where 
our arrival made a scene of the Arabian desert. As fast as they arrived, 



1S42.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 15 

men and horses rushed into the stream, where they bathed and drank to- 
gether in common enjoyment. We were now in the range of the Paw- 
nees, who were accustomed to infest this part of the country, steaUng 
horses from companies on their way to the mountains, and, when in suffi- 
cient force, openly attacking and phmdering them, and subjecting them 
to various kinds of insuh. For the first time, therefore, guard was mount- 
ed to-night. Our route the next morning lay up the valley, wliicl^, bor- 
dered by hills with graceful slopes, looked uncommonly green and beau- 
tiful. The stream was about fifty feet wide, and three or four deep, 
fringed by cotton wood and willow, with frequent groves of oak tenanted 
by flocks of turkeys. Game here, too, made its appearance in greater 
plenty. Elk were frequently seen on the liills, and now and then an an- 
telope bounded across our path, or a deer broke from the groves. The 
road in the afternoon was over the upper prairies, several miles from the 
river, and we encamped at sunset on one of its small tributaries, where 
an abundance of prele {e<juisetu7n) afforded fine forage to our tired ani- 
mals. We had travelled thirty-one miles. A heavy bank of black clouds 
in the west came on us in a storm between nine and ten, preceded by a 
violent wind. The rain fell in such torrents that it was diflicult to breathe 
facing the wind, the thunder rolled incessantly, and the whole sky was 
tremulous with lightning; now and then illuminated by a blindhig flash, 
succeeded by pitchy darkness. Carson had the watch from ten to mid- 
night, and to him had been assigned our young compagnons de voyage, 
Messrs. Brant and II. Benton. This was their first night on guard, and 
such an introduction did not augur very auspiciously of the pleasures of 
the expedition. Many things conspired to render their situation uncom- 
fortable ; stories of desperate and bloody Indian fights were rife in the 
camp; our position was badly chosen, surroimded on all sides by timbered 
hollows, and occupying an area of several hundred feet, so that necessa- 
rily the guards were far apart; and now and then I could iiear Randolph, 
as if relieved by the sound of a voice in the darkness, calling out to the 
sergeant of the guard, to direct his attcniion to some imaginary alarm ; 
but they stood it out, and took their turn regularly afterward. 

The next morning we had a specimen of the false alarms to which all 
parties in these wild regions are subject. Proceeding up the valley, ob- 
jects were seen on the opposite hills, which disappeared before a glass 
could be brought to bear upon them. A man, who was a short distance 
in the rear, came spurring up in great haste, shouting Indians ! Indians ! 
He had been near enough to see and coiuit them, according to his report, 
and had made out twenty-seven. I innnediately halted; arms were ex- 
amined and put in order; the usual preparations made; and Kit Carson, 
springing upon one of tlie hunting horses, crossed the river, and galloped 
off into the opposite prairies, to obtain some certain intelligence of their 
movemenls. 

Mounted on a fine iiorse, without a saddle, and scouring bareheaded 
over the prairies, Kit was one of the finest pictures of a horseman I have 
ever seen. A short time enabled him to discover that the Indian war 
party of twenty-seven consisted of six elk, who had been gaznig curiously 
at our caravan as it passed by, and were now scampering off at full speed. 
This was our first alarm, and its excitement broke agreeably on the mo- 
notony of the day. At our noon halt, tlie men were exercised at a target; 
and in the evening we [)itchcd our tents at a Pawnee encanipin'^nl of last 



16 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

July. They had apparently killed buffalo here, as many bones were 
lying about, and the frames where the hides had been stretched were yet 
standing. The road of the day had kept the valley, which is sometimes 
rich and well timbered, though the country is generally sandy. Mingled 
with the usual plants, a thistle {carduus leucographus) had for the last 
day or two made its appearance ; and along the river bottom, tradescantia 
(virglnica) and milk plant {asclepias syriaca*) in considerable quantities. 

Our march to-day had been twenty-one miles, and the astronomical ob- 
servations gave us a chronornetric longitude of 98° 22' 12", and latitude 
40° 26' 50". We were moving forward at seven in the morning, and in 
about five miles reached a fork of the Blue, where the road leaves that 
river, and crosses over to the Platte. No water was to be found on the 
dividing ridge, and the casks were filled, and the animals here allowed a 
short repose. The road led across a high and level prairie ridge, where 
were but few plants, and those principally thistle {curduiis leucographus,) 
and a kind of dwarf artemisia. i^ntelope were seen frequently during 
the morning, which was very stormy. Squalls of rain, with thunder and 
lightning, were around us in every direction; and while we were envel- 
oped in one of them, a flash, which seemed to scorch our eyes as it 
passed, struck in the prairie within a few hundred feet, sending up a 
column of dust. 

Crossing on the way several Pawnee roads to the Arkansas, we reach- 
ed, in about twenty-one miles from our halt on the Blue, what is called 
the coast of the Nebraska, or Platte river. This had seemed in the dis- 
tance a range of high and broken hills ; but on a nearer approach were 
found to be elevations of forty to sixty feet, into which the wind had 
worked the sand. They were covered with the usual fine grasses of the 
country, and bordered the eastern side of the ridge on a breadth of about 
two miles. Change of soil and country appeared here to have produced 
some change in the vegetation. Cacti were numerous, and all the plants 
of the region appeared to flourish among the warm hills. Among them 
the umorpka, m full bloom, was remarkable for its large and luxuriani 
])urple clusters. From the foot of the coast, a distance of two miles across 
the level bottom brought us to our encampment on the shore of the river, 
about twenty miles below the head of Grand island, which lay extended 
before us, covered with dense and heavy woods. From the mouth of ihe 
Kansas, aceording to our reckoning, we had travelled three hundred and 
twenty-eight miles; and the geological formation of the country we had 
passed over consisted of lime and sandstone, covered by the same erratic 
deposite of sand and gravel which forms the surface rock of the prairies 
between the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. ExcejH in some occasional 
limestone boulders, I had met with no fossils. The elevation of the Platte 
valley above the sea is here about two thousand feet. The astronomi- 
cal observations of the night placed us in longitude 98° 45' 49", latitude 
40° 41' 06". 



• ♦* This plant is very odoriferous, and in Canada cliarms the traveller, especially when passing 
through woods in the evening. The French there eat the tender shoots in the spring, as we do 
asparagus. The natives make a sugar of the flowers, gathering them in the morning when they are 
covered with dew, and collect the cotton from the pods to fill their beds. On account of the silki- 
ness of thi.s cotton, Parkinson calls the plant Virginian silk." — Loudotis Encyclopedia of I'lants- 

The Sioux Indians of the Upper Platte eat the young pods of this i)lant, Ijoiling them with the 
meat of the buH'alo. 



1S42.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. I7 

June 27. — The animals were somewhat fatigued by their march of yes- 
terday, and, after a short journey of eighteen miles along the river bottom, 
I encamped near the head of Grand island, in longitude, by observation, 
99° 05' 24", latitude 40° 39' 32". The soil here was light but rich, though 
in some places rather sandy; and, with the exception of a scattered fringe 
along the bank, the timber, consisting principally of poplar, {populus mo- 
nilifera,) elm, and hackberry, {celtis crassifolia,) is confined almost en- 
tirely to the islands. 

June 28. — We halted to noon at an open reach of the river, which oc- 
cupies rather more than a fourth of the valley, here only about four miles 
broad. Tlie camp had been disposed with the usual precaution, the 
horses grazing at a little distance, attended by the guard, and we were all 
sitting quietly at our dinner on the grass, when suddenly we heard the 
startling cry " dti tnondc .'" In an instant, every man's weapon was in 
his hand, the horses were driven in, hobbled and picketed, and horsemen 
Y.'ere galloping at full speed in the direction of the new comers, screan)ing 
and yelling with the wildest excitement. " Get ready, my lads !" said 
the leader of the approaching party to his men, when our wild-looking 
horsemen were discovered bearing down upon them ; ^'■ttous allons allraper 
des coKps de baguette.'"' They proved to be a small party of fourteen, 
under the charge of a man named John Lee, and, with their baggage and 
provisions strapped to their backs, were making their way on foot to the 
frontier. A brief account of their fortunes will give some idea of naviga- 
tion in the Nebraska. Sixty days since, they had left the mouth of Lar- 
amie's fork, some three hundred miles above, in barges laden with the 
furs of the American Fur Company. They started with the annual flood, 
and, drawing but nine inches water, hoped to make a speedy and pros- 
perous voyage to St. Louis ; but, after a lapse of forty days, found them- 
selves only one hiuidred and tliirty miles from their point of departure. 
They came down rapidly as far as Scott's blufts, where their difficulties 
began. Sometimes they came upon places where the water was spread 
over a great extent, and here they toiled from morning until night, en- 
deavoring to drag their boat through the sands, making only two or three 
miles in as many days. Sometimes they would enter an arm of the river, 
v%'here there appeared a fine channel, and, after descending prosperously 
for eight or ten miles, would come suddenly upon dry sands, and be com- 
pellefl to return, dragging their boat for days against the rapid current ; 
and at others, they came upon places where the water lay in holes, and, 
getting out to float off their boat, would fall into water up to their necks, 
and the next moment tumble over against a sandbar. Discouraged, at 
length, and finding the Platte growing every day more shallow, they dis- 
charged the principal part of their cargoes one hundred and thirty miles 
below Fort Laramie, which they secured as well as possible, and, leaving 
a few men to guard them, attempted to continue their voyage, laden with 
some light furs and their personal baggage. After fifteen or twenty days 
more struggling in the sands, during which they made but one hundred 
and forty miles, they sunk their barges, made a cache of their remaining 
furs and property, in trees on the bank, and, packing on his back what 
each man could carry, had commenced, the day before we encountered 
them, their journey on foot to St. Louis. 

We laughed then at their forlorn and vagabond appearance, and, in our 
turn, a month or two afterwards, furnished the same occasion for merri- 
2 



IS CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

ment to others. Even their stock of tobacco, that sine qua ?ion of a voi/- 
ageicr, without which the night fire is gloomy, was entirely exhausted. 
However, we shortened their homeward journey by a small supply from 
our own provision. They gave us the welcome intelligence that the buf- 
falo were abundant some two days' march in advance, and made us a 
present of some choice pieces, which were a very acceptable change from 
our salt pork. In the interchange of news, and the renewal of old ac- 
quaintanceships, we found wherewithal to fill a busy hour; then we 
mounted our horses, and they shouldered their packs, and we shook hands 
and parted. Among them, I had found an old companion on the northern, 
prairie, a hardened and hardly served veteran of the mountains, who had 
been as much hacked and scarred as an old moustache of Napoleon's "old 
guard." He flourished in the sobriquet of La Tulipe, and his real name 
I never knew. Finding that he was going to the States only because 
his company was bound in that direction, and that he was rather more 
willing to return with me, I took him again into my service. We trav- 
elled this day but seventeen miles. 

At our evening camp, about sunset, three figures were discovered ap- 
proaching, which our glasses made out to be Indians. They proved to 
be Cheyennes — two men, and a boy of thirteen. About a month since, 
they had left their people on the south fork of the river, some three hun- 
dred miles to the westward, and a party of only four in number had been 
to the Pawnee villages on a horse-stealing excursion, from which they 
were returning unsuccessful. They were miserably mounted on wild 
horses from the Arkansas plains, and had no other weapons than bows 
and long spears; and had they been discovered by the Pawnees, could 
not, by any possibility, have escaped. They were mortified by their ill 
success, and said the Pawnees were cowards, who shut up their horses in 
their lodges at night. I invited them to supper with me, and Randolph 
and the young Cheyenne, who had been eyeing each other suspiciously 
and curiously, soon became intimate friends. After supper, we sat down 
on the grass, and I placed a sheet of paper between us, on which they 
traced rudely, but with a certain degree of relative truth, ihe watercourses 
of the country which lay between us and their villages, and of which I 
desired to have some information. Their companions, they told us, had 
taken a nearer route over the hills; but they had mounted one of the sum- 
mits to spy out the country, whence they had caught a glimpse of our party, 
and, confident of good treatment at the hands of the whites, hastened to 
join company. Latitude of the camp 40° 39' 51". 

We made the next morning sixteen miles, I remarked that the ground 
was covered in many places with an efliorescence of salt, and the plants 
were not numerous. In the bottoms was frequently seen tradescantia, 
and on the dry Tenches were c«rcf^?<w5, cac/?/.?, and amorpha. A high wind 
during the morning had increased to a violent gale from the northwest, 
which made our afternoon ride cold and unpleasant. We had the wel- 
come sight of two buftaloes on one of the large islands, and encamped at a 
clump of timber about seven miles from our noon halt, after a day's march 
of twenty-two miles. 

The air was keen the next morning at sunrise, the thermometer stand- 
ing at 44°, and it was sufficiently cold to make overcoats very comfortable, 
A few miles brought us into the midst of the buffalo, swarming in im- 
mense numbers over the plains, where they had left scarcely a blade of 



1342.1 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 19 

grass standing. Mr. Preuss, who was sketching at a little distance in the 
rear, had at first noted them as large groves of timber. In the sight of 
such a mass of life, the traveller teels a strange emotion of grandeur. 
We had heard from a distance a dull and confused murmuring, and, 
when we came in view of their dark masses, there was not one among 
us who did not feel his heart beat quicker. It was the early part of the 
day, when the herds are feeding; and every where they were in motion. 
Here and there a huge old bull was rolling in the grass, and clouds of 
dusl rose in the air from various parts of the bands, each the scene of 
some obstinate fight. Indians and buffalo make the poetry and life of 
the prairie, and our camp was full of their exhilaration. In place of the 
quiet monotor.y of the march, relieved only by the cracking of the whip, 
and an " avance done ! enfant de garce V shouts and songs resounded 
from every part of the line, and our evening camp was always the com- 
mencement of a feast, which terminated only with our departure on the 
Tfollowing morning. At any time of the night might be seen pieces of the 
most delicate and choicest meat, roasting en appolas, on sticks around the 
fire, and the guard were never without company. With pleasant weather 
and no enemy to fear, an abundance of the most excellent meat, and no 
scarcity of bread or tobacco, they were enjoying the oasis of a voyageur's 
Hfe. Three cows were killed to-day. Kit Carson iiad shot one, and was 
■continuing the chase in the midst of another herd, when his horse fell 
headlong, but sprang up and joined the flying band. Though considerably 
hurt, he had the good fortune to break no bones ; and Maxwell, M'^ho was 
mounted on a fleet hunter, captured the runaway after a hard chase. He 
was on the point of shooting him, to avoid the loss of his bridle, (a hand- 
somely mounted Spanish one,) when he found that his horse was able to 
come up with him. Animals are frequently lost in this way ; and it is 
necessary to keep close watch over them, in the vicinity of the buff'alo, in 
the midst of which they scour oft" to the plains, and are rarely retaken. 
One of our mules took a sudden freak into his head, and joined a neigh- 
boring band to-day. As we were not in a condition to lose horses, I sent 
several men in pursuit, and remained in camp, in the hope of recovering 
him ; but lost the afternoon to no purpose, as we did not see him again. 
Astronomical observations placed us in longitude 100° 05' 47", latitude 
40° 49' 55". 

July 1. — Along our road to-day the prairie bottom was more elevated 
and dry, and theliills which border the right side of the river higher, and 
more broken and picturesque in the outline. The country, too, was bet- 
ter timbered. As we were riding quietly along the bank, a grand herd of 
buffalo, some seven or eight hundred in number, came crowding up from 
the river, where they had been to drink, and commenced crossing the 
plain slowly, eating as they went. The wind was favorable ; the coolness 
of the morning invited to exercise ; the ground was apparently good, and 
the distance across the prairie (two or three miles) gave us a fine opportu- 
nity to charge them before they could get among the river hills. It was 
too fine a prospect for a chase to be lost ; and, halting for a few moments, 
the hunters were brought up and saddled, and Kit Carson, Maxwell, and 
I, started together. They were now somewhat less than half a mile dis- 
tant, and we rode easily along until within about three hundred yards, 
when a sudden agitation, a wavering in the band, and a galloping to and 
fro of some which were scattered along the skirts, gave us the intimatioa 



20 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

that we were discovered. We started together at a hand gallop, riding, 
steadily abreast of each other, and here the interest of the chase became 
so engrossingly intense, that we were sensible to nothing else. We were 
now closing upon them rapidly, and the front of the mass was already 
in rapid motion for the hills, and in a few seconds the movement had 
communicated itself to the whole herd. 

A crowd of bulls, as usual, brought up the rear, and every now and 
then some of them faced about, and then dashed on after the band a short 
distance, and turned and looked again, as if more than half inclined to 
stand and fight. In a few moments, however, during which we had been 
quickening our pace, the rout was universal, and we were going over the 
ground like a hurricane. When at about thirty yards, we gave the usual 
shout, (the hunter's /jf/5 de. charge) and broke into the herd. We enter- 
ed on the side, the mass giving way in every direction in their heedless 
course. Many of the bulls, less active and less fleet than the cows, pay- 
ing no attention to the ground, and occupied solely with the hunter, were 
precipitated to the earth with great force, rolling over and over with the 
violence of the shock, and hardly distinguishable in the dust. We sepa- 
rated on entering, each singling out his game. 

My horse was a trained hunter, famous in the west under the name of 
Proveau, and, with his eyes flashing, and the foam flying from his mouth, 
sprang on after the cow like a tiger. In a few moments he brought me 
alongside of her, and, rising in the stirrups, I fired at the distance of a 
yard, the ball entering at the termination of the long hair, and passing 
near the heart. She fell headlong at the report of the gun, and, checking 
my horse, I looked around for my companions. At a little distance, Kit 
was on the ground, engaged in tying his horse to the horns of a cow 
which he v/as preparing to cut up. Among the scattered bands, at some 
distance below, I caught a glimpse of Maxwell ; and while I was looking, 
a light wreath of while smoke curled away from his gun, from which I was 
too far to hear the report. Nearer, and between me and the hills, towards 
which they were directing their course, was the body of the herd, and, 
giving my horse the rein, we dashed after them. A thick cloud of dust 
hung upon their rear, which filled my mouth and eyes, and nearly smoth- 
ered me. In the midst of this I could see nothing, and the buflalo were 
not distinguishable until within thirty feet. They crowded together more 
densely still as I came upon them, and rushed along in such a compact 
body, that I could not obtain an entrance — the horse almost leaping upon 
them. In a few moments the mass divided to the right and left, the horns 
clattering \^'ith a noise heard above every thing else, and my horse darted 
into the opening. Five or six bulls charged on us as we dashed along 
the line, but were left far behind ; and, singling out a cow, I gave her my 
fire, but struck too high. She gave a tremendous leap, and scoured on 
swifter than before. I reined up my horse, and the band swept on like a 
torrent, and left the place quiet and clear. Our chase had led us into 
dangerous ground. A prairie-dog village, so thickly settled that there 
were three or four holes in every twenty yards square, occupied the whole 
bottom for nearly two miles in length. Looking around, I saw only one 
of the hunters, nearly out of sight, and the long dark line of our caravan 
crawling along, three or four miles distant. After a march of twenty-four 
miles, we encamped at nightfall, one mile and a half above the lower end 
of Brady's island. The breadth of this arm of the river was eight hUii 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 21 

dred and eighty yards, and the water nowhere two feet in depth. The 
island bears the name of a man killed on this spot some years ago. His 
party had encamped here, three in company, and one of the number went 
off to hunt, leaving Brady and his companion together. These two had 
frequently quarrelled, and on the hunter's return he found Brady dead, 
and was told that he had shot himself accidentally. He was buried here 
on the bank; but, as usual, the wolves had torn him out, and some human 
bones that were lying on the ground we supposed were his. Troops of 
wolves, that were hanging on the skirts of the buffalo, kept up an uninter- 
rupted howling during the night, venturing almost into camp. In the 
morning, they were sitting at a short distance, barking, and impatiently 
waiting our departure, to fall upon the bones. 

July 2. — The morning was cool and smoky. Our road led closer to the 
hills, which here increased in elevation, presenting an outhne of conical 
peaks three hundred to five hundred feet high. Some timber, apparently 
pine, grows in the ravines, and streaks of clay or sand whiten their slopes. 
We crossed daring the morning a number of hollows, timbered princi- 
pally with box elder, (acer neginido,) poplar, and elm, Brady's island is 
well wooded, and all the river along which our road led to-day may, in 
general, be called tolerably well timbered. We passed near an encamp- 
ment of the Oregon emigrants, where they appear to have reposed several 
days. A variety of household articles were scattered about, and they had 
probably disburdened themselves here of many things not absolutely ne- 
cessary. I had left the usual road before the mid-day halt, and in the af- 
ternoon, having sent several men in advance to reconnoitre, marched di- 
rectly for the mouth of the South fork. On our arrival, the horsemen were 
sent in and scattered about the river to search the best fording places, and 
the carts followed immediately. The stream is here divided by an island 
into two channels. The southern is four hundred and fifty feet wide, 
having eighteen or twenty inches water in the deepest places. With the 
exception of a few dry bars, the bed of the river is generally quicksands, 
in which the carts began to sink rapidly so soon as the mules halted, so 
that it was necessary to keep them constantly in motion. 

The northern channel, two thousand two hundred and fifty feet wide, 
was somewhat deeper, having frequently three feet water in the numer- 
ous small channels, with a bed of coarse gravel. The whole breadth oi' 
the Nebraska, immediately below the junction, is five thousand three hun- 
dred and fifty feet. All our equipage had reached the left bank safely at 6 
o'clock, having to-day made twenty miles. We encampted at the poin 
of lind immediately at the junction of the North and South forks. Be- 
tween the streams is a low rich prairie, extending from their confluence 
eighteen miles westwardly to the borderhig hills, where it is five and a 
half miles wide. It is covered with a luxuriant growth of grass, and 
along the banks is a slight and scattered fringe of cottonwood and willow. 
In the buffalo trails and wallows, I remarked saline efflorescences, to 
which a rapid evaporation in the great heat of the sun probably contrib- 
utes, as the soil is entirely unprotected by timber. In the vicinity of these 
places there was a bluish grass, which the cattle refuse to eat, called by 
the voyageurs " herbe salce,''' (salt grass.) The latitude of the junction is 
41° 04' 47", and longitude, by chronometer and lunar distances, 100° 49'43". 
The elevation above the sea is about two thousand seven hundred feet. The 
hunters came in with a fat cow; and, as we had labored hard, we enjoye 



22 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842o 

well a supper of roasted ribs and boudins, the chef d^oeiiV7'e of a prairie 
cook. Mosquitoes thronged about us this evening; but, by 10 o'clock; 
when the thermometer had fallen to 47°, they had all disappeared. 

July 3. — As this was to be a point in our homeward journey, I made a 
cache (a term used in all this country for what is hidden in the ground) of 
a barrel of pork. It was impossible to conceal such a proceeding from the 
sharp eyes of our Cheyennfe companions, and I therefore told them to go 
and see what it was they were burying. They would otherwise have 
not failed to return and destroy our cache, in expectation of some rich 
booty ; but pork they dislike, and never eat. We left our camp at 9, con- 
tinuing up the South fork, the prairie bottom aftbrding us a fair road ; but 
in the long grass we roused myriads of mosquitoes and flies, from which 
our horses suffered severely. The day was smoky, with a pleasant breeze 
from the south, and the plains on the opposite side were covered with buf- 
falo. Having travelled twenty five miles, we encamped at 6 in the even- 
ing; and the men were sent across the river for wood, as there is none 
here on the left bank. Our fires were partially made of the bois de vache, 
the dry excrement of the buffalo, which, like that of the camel in the Ara- 
bian deserts, furnishes to the traveller a very good substitute for wood, 
burning like turf. Wolves in great numbers surrounded us during the 
night, crossing and recrossing from the opposite herds to our camp, and 
howling and trotting about in the river until morning. 

Jiily 4. — The morning was very smoky, the sun shining dimly and red,, 
as in a thick fog. The camp was roused with a salute at daybreak, and 
from our scanty store a portion of what oar Indian friends called the "red 
fire water" served out to the men. While we were at breakfast, a buffalo 
calf broke through the camp, followed by a couple of wolves. In its 
fright, it had probably mistaken us for a band of buffalo. The wolves 
were obliged to make a circuit around the camp, so that the calf got a lit- 
tle the start, and strained every nerve to reach a large herd at the foot of 
the hills, about two miles distant ; but first one, and then another, and 
another wolf joined in the chase, until his pursuers amounted to twenty 
or thirty, and they ran him down before he could reach his friends. 
There were a few bulls near the place, and one of them attacked the 
wolves, and tried to rescue him ; but was driven off irnmediately, and the 
little animal fell an easy prey, half devoured before he was dead. We 
watched the chase with the interest always felt for the weak ; and had 
there been a saddled horse at hand, he would have fared better. Leaving 
camp, our road soon approached the hills, in which strata of a marl like.that 
of the Chimney rock, hereafter described, make their appearance. It is 
probably of this rock that the hills on the right bank of the Platte, a little 
below the junction, are composed, and which are worked by the winds 
and rains into sharp peaks and cones, giving them, in contrast to the sur- 
rounding level region, something of a picturesque appearance. We 
crossed this morning numerous beds of the small creeks which, in the 
time of rains and melting snow, pour down from the ridge, bringing down 
with them always great quantities of sand and gravel, which have gradu- 
ally raised their beds four to ten feet above the level of the prairie, which 
they cross, making each one of them a miniature Po. Raised in this way 
above the surrounding prairie, without any bank, the long yellow and 
winding hue of their beds resembles a causeway from the hills to the 
river. Many spots on the prairie are yellow with simflower, [helianthus.), 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S xXARRATIVE. 23 

As we were riding slowly along this afternoon, clouds of dust in the 
ravines, among the hills to the right, suddenly attracted our attention, and 
in a few minutes column after column of butfalo came galloping down, 
making directly to the river. By the time the leading herds had reached 
the water, the prairie was darkened with the dense masses. Immediately 
before us, when the bands first came down into the valley, stretched an 
unbroken line, the head of which was lost among the river hills on the 
opposite side ; and still they poured down from the ridge on our right. 
From hill to hill, the prairie bottom was certainly not less than two miles 
wide : and, allowing the animals to be ten feet apart, and only ten in a 
line, there were already eleven thousand in view. Some idea may thus 
be formed of their number when they had occupied the whole plain. In 
a short time they surrounded us on every side ; extending for several miles 
in the rear, and forward as far as the eye could reach ; leaving around uS;, 
as we advanced, an open space of only two or three hundred yards. This 
movement of the buffalo mdicated to us the presence of Indians on the 
North fork. 

I halted earlier than usual, about forty miles from the junction, and all 
hands were soon busily engaged in preparing a feast to celebrate the day. 
The kindness of our friends at St. Louis had provided us with a large 
supply of excellent preserves and rich fruit cake ; and when these were 
added to a maccaroni soup, and variously prepared dishes of the choicest 
buffalo meat, crowned with a cup of coffee, and enjoyed with prairie ap- 
petite, we felt, as we sat in barbaric luxury around our smoking supper 
on the grass, a greater sensation of enjoyment than the Roman epicure at 
his perfumed feast. But most of all it seemed to please our Indian friends, 
who, in the unrestrained enjoyment of the moment, demanded to know if 
our "medicine days came often." No restraint was exercised at the hos- 
pitable board, and, to the great delight of his elders, our young Indian lad 
made himself extremely drunk. 

Our encampment was within a few miles of the place where the road 
crosses to the North fork, and various reasons led me to divide my party 
at this point. The North fork was the principal object of my survey ; but 
I was desirous to ascend the South branch, with a view of obtaining some 
astronomical positions, and determining the mouths of its tributaries as 
far as St. Vrain's fort, estimated to be some two hundred miles further up 
the river, and near to Long's peak. There 1 hoped to obtain some mules, 
which I found would be necessary to relieve my horses. In a military 
point of view, I was desirous to form some opinion of the country relative 
to the establishment of posts on a line connecting the settlements with 
the South pass of the Rocky mountains, by way of the Arkansas and the 
South and Laramie forks of the Platte. Crossing the country northwest- 
wardly from St. Vrain's fort, to the American company's fort at the mouth 
of Laramie, would give me some acquaintance with the affluents which 
head in the mountains between the two ; I therefore determined to set out 
the next morning, accompanied by Mr. Preuss and four men. Maxwell, 
Bernier, Ayot, and Basil Lajeunesse. Our Cheyennes, whose village lay 
up this river, also decided to accompany us. The party I left in charge 
of Clement Lambert, with orders to cross to the North fork ; and at some 
convenient place, near to the Coulee des Frenes, make a cache of every 
thing not absolutely necessary to the further progress of our expedition. 
From this point, using the most guarded precaution in his march through 



24 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

the country, he was to proceed to the American company's fort at the 
mouth of Laramie's fork, and await my arrival, which would be prior to 
the 16th, as on that and the following night would occur some occuliations 
which I was desirous to obtain at that place. 

July 5. — Before breakfast, all was ready. We had one led horse in ad- 
dition to those we rode, and a pack mule, destined to carry our instruments, 
provisions, and baggage ; the last two articles not being of very great 
weight. The instruments consisted of a sextant, artificial horizon, &c., a 
barometer, spy glass, and compass. The chronometer I of course kept on. 
my person. 1 had ordered the cook to put up for us some flour, coffee, and 
sugar, and our rifles were to furnish the rest. One blanket, in addition to 
his saddle and saddle blanket, furnished the materials for each man's bed, 
and every one was provided with a change of linen. All were armed 
with rifles or double barrelled guns; and, in addition to these, Maxwell 
and myself were furnished with excellent pistols. Thus accoutred, we 
took a parting breakfast with our friends, and set forth. 

Our journey the first day afforded nothing of any interest. We shot 
a buffalo toward sunset, and, having obtained some meat for our evening 
meal, encamped where a little timber afforded us the means of making a 
fire. Having disposed our meat on roasting sticks, we proceeded to un- 
pack our bales iu search of coffee and sugar, and flour for bread. With 
the exception of a little parched coffee, unground, we found nothing. Our 
cook had neglected to put it up, or it had been somehow forgotten. Tired 
and hungry, with tough bull meat without salt, (for we had not been able 
to kill a cow,) and a little bitter coffee, we sat down in silence to our mis- 
erable fare, a very disconsolate party ; for yesterday's feast was yet fresh 
in our memories, and this was our first brush with misfortune. Each man 
took his blanket, and laid himself down silently ; for the worst part of these 
mishaps is, that they make people ill-humored. To-day we had travelled 
about thirty-six miles. 

July 6, — Finding that our present excursion would be attended with 
considerable hardship, and unwilling to expose more persons than neces- 
sary, I determined to send Mr. Preuss back to the party. His horse, too, 
appeared in no condition to support the journey ; and accordingly, after 
breakfast, betook the road across the hills, attended by one of my most 
trusty men, Bernier. The ridge between the rivers is here about fifteen 
miles broad, and I expected he would probably strike the fork near their 
evening camp. At all events, he would not fail to find their trail, and re- 
join them the next day. 

We continued our journey, seven in number, including the three Chey- 
ennes. Our general course was southwest, up the valley of the river, 
which was sandy, bordered on the northern side of the valley by a low 
ridge ; and on the south, after seven or eight miles, the river hills became 
higher. Six miles from our resting place we crossed the bed of a consid- 
erable stream, now entirely dry — a bed of sand. In a grove of willows, 
near the mouth, were the remains of a considerable fort, constructed of 
trunks of large trees. It was apparently very old, and had probably been 
the scene of some hostile encounter among the roving tribes. Its soli- 
tude formed an impressive contrast to the picture which our imaginations 
involuntarily drew of the busy scene which had been enacted here. The 
timber appeared to have been much more extensive formerly than now. 
There were but it^ trees, a kind of long-leaved willow, standing ; and 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 25 

numerous trunks of large trees were scattered about on the ground. In 
many similar places I had occasion to remark an apparent progressive de- 
cay in the timber. Ten miles fartlier we reached the mouth of Lodge 
Pole creek, a clear and handsome stream, running through a broad valley. 
In its course through the bottom it has a uniform breadth of twenty-two 
feet, and six inches in depth. A few willows on the banks strike pleas- 
antly on the eye, by their greenness, in the midst of the hot and barren 
sands. 

The amorpha was frequent among the ravines, but the sunflower {heli- 
aiithus) was the characteristic ; and flowers of deep warm colors seem most 
to love the sandy soil. The impression of the country travelled over to- 
day was one of dry and barren sand.s. We turned in towards the river at 
noon, and gave our horses two hours for food and rest. I had no other 
thermometer than the one attached to tiie barometer, which stood at 89°, 
the height of the column in the barometer being 26.235 at meridian. The 
sky was clear, with a high wind from the south. At 2, we continued our 
journey ; tlie wind had moderated, and it became almost unendurably hot, 
and our animals suffered severely. In the course of the afternoon, the wind 
rose suddenly, and blew hard from the southwest, with thunder and light- 
ning, and squalls of rain ; these were blown against us with violence by 
the wind ; and, halting, we turned our backs to the storm until it blew 
over. Antelope were tolerably frequent, with a large gray hare ; but the 
former were shy, and the latter hardly worth the delay of stopping to shoot 
them ; so, as the evening drew near, we again had recourse to an old bull, 
and encamped at sunset on an island in the Platte. 

We ate our meat with a good relish this evening, for we were all in fine 
health, and had ridden nearly all of a long summer's day, with a burning 
sun reflected from the sands. My companions slept rolled up in their 
blankets, and the Indians lay in the grass near the fire ; but my sleeping 
place generally had an air of more pretension. Our rifles were tied to- 
gether near the muzzle, the butts resting on the ground, and a knife laid 
on the rope, to cut away in case of an alarm. Over this, which made a 
kind of frame, was thrown a large India rubber cloth, which we used to 
cover our packs. This made a tent sufficiently large to receive about half 
of my bed, and was a place of shelter for my instruments ; and as I was 
careful always to put this part against the wind, I could lie here with a 
sensation of satisfied enjoyment, and hear the wind blow, and the rain 
patter close to my head, and know that I should be at least half dry. Cer- 
tainly, I never slept more soundly. The barometer at sunset was 26.010, 
thermometer 81°, and cloudy; but a gale from the west sprang up with 
the setting sun, and in a few minutes swept away every cloud from the 
sky. The evening was very fine, and I remained up to take some astro- 
nomical observations, which made our position in latitude 40° 51' 17", and 
longitude 103° 07' 00". 

July 7. — At our camp this morning, at 6 o'clock, the barometer was at 
26.183, thermometer 69°, and clear, with a light wind from the southwest. 
The past night had been squally, with high winds, and occasionally a few 
drops of rain. Our cooking did not occupy much time, and we left camp 
early. Nothing of interest occurred during the morning. The same 
dreary barrenness, except that a hard marly clay had replaced the sandy 
soil. Buffalo absolutely covered the plain on both sides the river, and 
whenever we ascended the hills, scattered herds gave life to the view 



26 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

in every direction. A small drove ofwild horses made their appearance on 
the low river bottoms, a mile or two to the left, and 1 sent off one of the In- 
dians (who seemed very eager to catch one) on my led horse, a spirited and 
fleet animal. The savage manosuvred a little to get the wind of the horses^ 
in which he succeeded — approaching within a hundred yards without be- 
ing discovered. The chase for a few minutes was animated and interest- 
ing. My hunter easily overtook and passed the hindmost of the wild drove^ 
which the Indian did not attempt to lasso; all his efforts being directed to 
the capture of the leader. But the strength of the horse, weakened by the 
insufficient nourishment of grass, failed in a race, and all the drove escaped. 
We halted at noon on the bank of the river, the barometer at that time be- 
ing 26.192, and the thermometer 103°, with a light air from the south, and 
clear weather. 

In the course of the afternoon, dust rising among the hills at a particular 
place, attracted our attention; and, riding up, we found a band of eighteen 
or twenty buffalo bulls engaged in a desperate fight. Though butting and 
goring were bestowed liberally, and without distinction, yet their efforts 
were evidently directed against one — a huge gaunt old bull, very lean,, 
while his adversaries were all fat and in good order. He appeared very 
weak, and had already received some wounds, and, while we were look- 
ing on, was several times knocked down and badly hurt, and a very few 
moments would have put an end to him. Of course, we took the side of 
the weaker party, and attacked the herd ; but they were so blind with 
rage, that they fought on, utterly regardless of our presence, although on 
foot and on horseback we were firing in open view within twenty yards 
of them. But this did not last long. In a very few seconds, we created 
a commotion among them. One or two, which were knocked over by the 
balls, jumped up and ran off into the hills; and they began to retreat 
slowly along a broad ravine to the river, fighting furiously as they went. 
By the time they had reached the bottom, we had pretty well dispersed 
them, and the old bull hobbled off, to lie down somewhere. One of his en- 
emies remained on the ground where we had first fired upon them, and we 
stopped there for a short time to cut from him some meat for our supper. 
We had neglected to secure our horses, thinking it an unnecessary precau- 
tion in their fatigued condition ; but our mule took it into his head to start,, 
and away he went, followed at full speed by the pack horse, with all the 
baggage and instruments on his back. They were recovered and brought 
back, after a chase of a mile. Fortunately, every thing was well secured, 
so that nothing, not even the barometer, was in the least injured. 

The sun was getting low, and some narrow lines of timber four or five 
miles distant promised us a pleasant camp, where, with plenty of wood 
for fire, and comfortable shelter, and rich grass for our animals, we should 
find clear cool springs, instead of the warm water of the Platte. On our 
arrival, we found the bed of a stream fifty to one hundred feet wide, sunk 
some thirty feet below the level of the prairie, with perpendicular banks, 
bordered by a fringe of green cotton wood, but not a drop of water. There 
were several small forks to the stream, all in the same condition. With 
the exception of the Platte bottom, the country seemed to be of a clay form- 
ation, dry, and perfectly devoid of any moisture, and baked hard by the 
sun. Turning off towards the river, we reached the bank in about a mile, 
and were delighted to find an old tree, with thick foliage and spreading 
branches, where we encamped. At sunset, the barometer was at 25.950, 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 27 

thermometer Sl°, with a strong wind from S. 20° E., and the sky partially- 
covered with heavy masses of cloud, which settled a little towards the 
horizon by 10 o'clock, leaving it sufficiently clear for astronomical ob- 
servations, which placed us in latitude 40° 33' 26", and longitude 103° 
30' 37". 

July S. — The morning was very pleasant. The breeze was fresh from 
S. 50° E. with few clouds; the barometer at 6 o'clock standing at 25.970, 
and the thermometer at 70°. Since leaving the forks, our route had passed 
over a country alternately clay and sand, each presenting the same naked 
waste. On leaving camp this morning, we struck again a sandy region, 
in which the vegetation appeared somewhat more vigorous than that 
which we had observed for the last few days ; and on the opposite side of 
the river were some tolerably large groves of timber. 

Journeying along, we came suddenly upon a place where the ground 
was covered with horses' tracks, which had been made since the rain, and 
indicated the immediate presence of Indians in our neighborhood. The 
buffalo, too, which the day before had been so numerous, were nowhere in 
sight — another sure indication that there were people near. Riding on, we 
discovered the carcass of a buffalo recently killed — perhaps the day before. 
We scanned the horizon carefully with the glass, but no living object was 
to be seen. For the next mile or two, the ground was dotted with buffalo 
carcasses, which showed that the Indians had made a surround here, and 
were in considerable force. We went on quickly and cautiously, keeping 
the river bottom, and carefully avoiding the hills ; but we met with no 
interruption, and began to grow careless again. We had already lost one 
of our horses, and here Basil's mule showed symptoms of giving out, and 
finally refused to advance, being what the Canadians call restL He there- 
fore dismounted, and drove her along before him ; but this was a very 
slow way of travelling. We had inadvertently got about half a mile in 
advance, but our Cheyennes, who were generally a mile or two in the 
rear, remained with him. There were some dark-looking objects among 
the hills, about two miles to the left, here low and undulating, which we 
had seen for a little time, and supposed to be buffalo coming in to water ; 
but, happening to look behind. Maxwell saw the Cheyennes whipping up 
furiously, and another glance at the dark objects showed them at once to 
be Indians coming up at speed. 

Had we been well mounted, and disencumbered of instruments, we 
might have set them at defiance ; but as it was, we were fairly caught. 
It was too late to rejoin our friends, and we endeavored to gain a clump 
of timber about half a mile ahead ; but the instruments and the tired state 
of our horses did not allow us to go faster than a steady canter, and they 
were gaining on us fast. At first, they did not appear to be more than 
fifteen or twenty in number, but group after group darted into view at the 
top of the hills, until all the little eminences seemed in motion, and, in a 
few minutes from the time they were first discovered, two or three hun- 
dred, naked to the breech cloth, were sweeping across the prairie. In a 
few hundred yards we discovered that the timber we were endeavoring 
to make was on the opposite side of the river; and before we could reach 
the bank, down came the Indians upon us. 

I am inclined to think that in a few seconds more the leading man, 
and perhaps some of his companions, would have rolled in the dust; for 
we had jerked the covers from our guns, and our fingers were on the 



28 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

triggers ; men in such cases generally act from instinct, and a charge from 
three hundred naked savages is a circumstance not well calculated to 
promote a cool exercise of judgment. Just as he was about to fire, Max- 
well recognised the leading Indian, and shouted to him in the Indian 
language, " You're a fool, G — damn you, don't you know me?" The 
sound of his own language seemed to shock the savage, and, swerving 
his horse a little, he passed us like an arrow. He wheeled, as I rode out 
toward him, and gave me his hand, striking. his breast and exclaiming 
"Arapahol" They proved to be a village of that nation, among whom 
Maxwell had resided as a trader a year or two previously, and recognised 
him accordingly. We were soon in the midst of the band, answermg as 
well as we could a multitude of questions ; of which the very first was, of 
what tribe were our Indian companions who were coming in the rear ? 
They seemed disappointed to know that they were Cheyennes, for they 
had fully anticipated a grand dance around a Pawnee scalp that night. 

The chief showed us his village at a grove on the river six miles ahead, 
and pointed out a band of buffalo on the other side of the Platte, imme- 
diately opposite us, which he said they were going to surround. They 
had seen the band early in the morning from their village, and had been 
making a large circuit, to avoid giving them the wind, when they discov- 
ered us. In a few minutes the women came galloping up, astride on 
their horses, and naked from their knees down, and the hips up. They 
followed the men, to assist in cutting up and carrying off the meat. 

The wind was blowing directly across the river, and the chief requested 
us to halt where we were for a while, in order to avoid raising the herd. 
We therefore unsaddled our horses, and sat down on the bank to view 
the scene ; and our new acquaintances rode a few hundred yards lower 
down, and began crossing the river. Scores of wild-looking dogs followed, 
looking like troops of wolves, and having, in fact, but very little of the 
dog in their composition. Some of them remained with us, and I checked 
one of the men, whom I found aiming at one, which he was about to kill 
for a wolf The day had become very hot. The air was clear, with a 
very slight breeze; and now, at 12 o'clock, while the barometer stood at 
25.920, the attached thermometer was at 108°. Our Cheyennes had 
learned that with the Arapaho village were about twenty lodges of their 
own, including their own families ; they therefore immediately com- 
menced making their toilette. After bathing in the river, they invested 
themselves in some handsome calico shirts, which I afterward learned 
they had stolen from my own men, and spent some time in arranging 
their hair and painting themselves with some vermilion I had given 
them. While they were engaged in this satisfactory manner, one of their 
half-wild horses, to which the crowd of prancing animals which had just 
passed had recalled the freedom of her existence among the wild droves 
on the prairie, suddenly dashed into the hills at the top of her speed. 
She was their pack horse, and had on her back all the worldly wealth of 
our poor Cheyennes, all their accoutrements, and all the little articles 
which they had picked up among us, with some few presents I had given 
them. The loss which they seemed to regret most were their spears and 
shields, and some tobacco which they had received from me. However, 
they bore it all with the philosophy of an Indian, and laughingly con- 
tinued their toilette. They appeared, however, a little mortified at the 
thought of returning to the village in such a sorry plight. " Our people 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. * 09 

will laugh at us," said one of them, "returning to the village on foot, in- 
stead of driving back a drove of Pawnee horses." He demanded to know 
if I loved my sorrel hunter very much ; to which I replied, he was the 
object of my most intense affection. Far from being able to give, I was 
myself in want of horses ; and any suggestion of parting with the few I 
had valuable, was met with a peremptory refusal. In the mean lime, the 
slaughter was about to commence on the other side. So soon as they 
reached it, the Indians separated into two bodies. One parly proceeded 
directly across the prairie, toward the hills, in an extended line, while the 
other went up the river; and instantly'' as they had given ihe wind to the 
herd, the chase commenced. The buffalo started for the hills, but were 
intercepted and driven back toward the river, broken and running in every 
direction. The clouds of dust soon covered the whole scene, preventing 
us from having any but an occasional view. It had a very singular ap- 
pearance to us at a distance, especially when looking with the glass. We 
were too far to hear the report of the guns, or any soimd ; and at every 
instant, through the clouds of dust which the sun made luminous, we 
could see for a moment two or three buffalo dashing along, and close be- 
hind them an Indian with his long spear, or other weapon, and instantly 
again they disappeared. The apparent silence, and the dimly seen figures 
flitting by with such rapidity, gave it a kind of dreamy effect, and seemed 
more like a picture than a scene of real life. It had been a large herd 
when the cerne commenced, probably three or four hundred in number; 
but, though I watched them closely, I did not see one emerge from the 
fatal cloud where the work of destruction was going on. After remain- 
ing here about an hour, we resumed our journey in the direction of the 
village. 

Gradually, as we rode on, Indian after Indian came dropping along, 
laden with meat ; and by the time we had neared the lodges, the back- 
ward road was covered with the returning horsemen. It was a pleasant 
contrast with the desert road we had been travelling. Several had joined 
company with us, and one of the chiefs invited us to his lodge. The vil- 
lage consisted of about one hundred and twenty-five lodges, of which 
twenty were Cheyennes; the latter pitched a little apart from the Arapa- 
hoes. They were disposed in a scattering manner on both sides of a 
broad irregular street, about one himdred and fifty feet wide, and running 
along the river. As we rode along, I remarked near some of the lodges a 
kind of tripod frame, formed of three slender poles of birch, scraped very 
clean, to which were affixed the shield and spear, with some other weap- 
ons of a chief All were scrupulously clean, the spear head was burnish- 
ed bright, and the shield white and stainless. It reminded me of the 
days of feudal chivalry; and when, as I rode by, I yielded to tlie passing 
impulse, and touched one of the spotless shields with the muzzle of my 
gun, I almost expected a grim warrior to start from the lodge and resent 
my challenge. The master of the lodge spread out a robe for me to sit 
upon, and the squaws set before us a large wooden dish of buflalo meat. 
He had lit liis pipe in the mean while, and M'hen it had been passed 
around, we connnenced our dinner while he continued to smoke. Grad- 
ually, five or six other chiefs came in, and took their seats in silence. 
When we had finished, our host asked a number of questions relative to 
the object of our journey, of which I made no concealment ; telling him 
simply that 1 had made a visit to see the country, preparatory to the es- 



30 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

tablishment of military posts ou the way to the mountains. Although 
this was information of the highest interest to them, and by no means 
calculated to please them, it excited no expression of surprise, and in no 
way altered the grave courtesy of their demeanor. The others listened 
and smoked. I remarked, that in taking the pipe for the first time, each 
had turned the stem upward, with a rapid glance, as in offering to the 
Great Spirit, before he put it in his mouth. A storm had been gathering 
for the past hour, and some pattering drops on the lodge warned us that 
we had some miles to our camp. Some Indian had given Maxwell a 
bundle of dried meat, which was very acceptable, as we had nothing; and, 
springing upon our horses, we rode off at dusk in the face of a cold 
shower and driving wind. We found our companions under some densely 
foliaged old trees, about three miles up the river. Under one of them lay 
the trunk of a large cottonwood, to leeward of which the men had kin- 
dled a fire, and we sat here and roasted our meat in tolerable shelter. 
Nearly opposite was the mouth of one of the most considerable affluents 
of the South fork, la Fourche aux Castors, (Beaver fork,) heading off in 
the ridge to the southeast. 

July 9. — This morning we caught the first faint glimpse of the Rocky 
mountains, about sixty miles distant. Though a tolerably bright day, 
there was a slight mist, and we were just able to discern the snowy sum- 
mit of '' Long's peak," ("/e5 deux oreiUes'^ of the Canadians,) showing 
like a small cloud near the horizon. I found it easily distinguishable, 
there being a perceptible difference in its appearance from the white 
clouds that were floating about the sky. I was pleased to find that 
among the traders and voyageurs the name of "Long's peak" had been 
adopted and become familiar in the country. In the ravines near this 
place, a light brown sandstone made its first appearance. About S, we 
discerned several persons on horseback a mile or two ahead, on the oppo- 
site side of the river. They turned in towards the river, and we rode 
down to meet them. We found them to be two white men, and a mu- 
latto named Jim Beckwith, who had left St. Louis when a boy, and gone 
to live with the Crow Indians. He had distinguished himself among 
them by some acts of daring bravery, and had risen to the rank of a chief, 
but had now, for some years, left them. They were in search of a band of 
horses that had gone off from a camp some miles above, in charge of Mr. 
Chabonard. Two of them continued down the river, in search of the 
horses, and the American turned back with us, and we rode on towards 
the camp. About eight miles from our sleeping place we reached Bijou's 
fork, an affluent of the right bank. Where we crossed it, a short distance 
from the Platte, it has a sandy bed about four hundred yards broad ; the 
water in various small streams, a few inches deep. Seven miles further 
brought us to a camp of some four or five whites, (New Englanders, I be- 
lieve,) who had accompanied Captain Wyeth to the Columbia river, and 
were independent trappers. All had their squaws with them, and I was 
really surprised at the number of little fat buffalo-fed boys that were tum- 
bling about the camp, all apparently of the same age, about three or four 
years old. They were encamped on a rich bottom, covered with a pro- 
fusion of fine grass, and had a large number of fine-looking horses and 
mules. We rested with them a few minutes, and in about two miles ar- 
rived at Chabonard's camp, on an island in the Platte. On the heights 
above, we met the first Spaniard I had seen in the country. Mr. Chabo- 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 31 

nard was in the service of Bent and St. Vrain's company, and had left 
their fort some forty or fifty miles above, in the spring, with boats laden 
with the furs of the last year's trade. He had met the same fortune as 
the voyageurs on the North fork, and, finding it impossible to proceed, had 
taken up his summer's residence on this island, which he had named St. 
Helena. The river hills appeared to be composed entirely of sand, and 
the Platte had lost the muddy character of its waters, and here was toler- 
ably clear. From the mouth of the South fork, I had found it occasion- 
ally broken up by small islands; and at the time of our journey, which 
was at a season of the year when the wafers were at a favorable stage, it 
was not navigable for any thing drawing six inches water. The current 
was very swift — the bed of the stream a coarse gravel. 

From the place at which we had encountered the Arapahoes, the Platte 
had been tolerably well fringed with timber, and the island here had a 
fine grove of very large cottonwoods, under whose broad shade the tents 
were pitched. There was a large drove of horses in the opposite prairie 
bottom : smoke was rising from the scattered fires, and the encampment 
had quite a patriarchal air. Mr. C. received us hospitably. One of the 
people was sent to gather mint, with the aid of which he concocted very 
good julep; and some boiled buffalo tongue, and coffee with the luxury 
of sugar, were soon set before us. The people in his employ were gene- 
rally Spaniards, and among them I saw a young Spanish woman from 
Taos, whom 1 found to be Beckwitii's wife. 

July 10. — We parted with our hospitable host after breakfast the next 
morning, and reached St. Vrain's fort, about forty-five miles from St. Hele- 
na, late in the evening. This post is situated on the South fork of the Platte, 
immediately under the mountains, about seventeen miles east of Long's 
peak. It is on the right bank, on the verge of the upland prairie, about 
forty feet above the river, of which the immediate valley is about six hun- 
dred yards wide. The stream is divided into various branches by small 
islands, among which it runs with a swift current. The bed of the river 
is sand and gravel, the water very clear, and here may be called a mountain 
stream. This region appears to be entirely free from the limestones and 
marls which give to the Lower Platte its yellow and dirty color. The 
Black hills lie between the stream and the mountains, whose snowy peaks 
glitter a few miles beyond. At the fort we found IMr. St. Vrain, who re- 
ceived us with much kindness and hospitality. Maxwell had spent the 
last two or three years between this post and the village of Taos ; and here 
he was at home, and among his friends. Spaniards frequently come over 
in search of employment; and several came in shortly after our arrival. 
They usually obtain about six dollars a month, generally paid to them in 
goods. They are very useful in a camp, in taking care of horses and 
mules ; and I engaged one, who proved to be an active, laborious man, 
and was of very considerable service to me. The elevation of the Platte 
here is five thousand four hundred feet above the sea. The neighboring 
mountains did not appear to enter far the region of perpetual snow, which 
was generally confined to the northern side of the peaks. On the south- 
ern, 1 remarked very little. Here it appeared, so far as I could judge in 
the distance, to descend but a few hundred feet below the summits. 

I regretted that time did not permit me to visit them ; but the proper 
object of my survey lay among the mountains further north ; and I looked 
forward to an exploration of their snowy recesses with great pleasure. 



32 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842'. 

The piney region of the mountains to the south was enveloped hi smoke, 
and I was informed had been on fire for several months. Pike's peak is 
said to be visible from this place, about one hundred miles to the south- 
ward ; but the smoky state of the atmosphere prevented my seeing it. 
The weather continued overcast during my stay here, so that I failed in 
determining the latitude, but obtained good observations for time on the 
mornings of the 11th and 12th. An assumed latitude of 40° 22' 30" from 
the evening position of the 12th, enabled me to obtain, for a tolerably cor- 
rect longitude, 105° 12' 12". 

July 12. — The kindness of Mr. St. Vrain had enabled me to obtain a 
couple of horses and three good mules ; and, with a further addition to our 
party of the Spaniard whom I had hired, and two others, who were 
going to obtain service at Laramie's fork, we resumed our journey at 10, 
on the morning of the 12th. We had been able to procure nothing at the 
post, in the way of provision. An expected supply from Taos had not yet 
arrived, and a few pounds of coffee was all that could be spared to us. In 
addition to this, we had dried meat enough for the first day ; on the next, 
"we expected to find buffalo. From this post, according to the estimate of 
the country, the fort at the mouth of Laramie's fork, which was our next 
point of destination, was nearly due north, distant about one hundred and 
twenty-five miles. 

For a short distance, our road lay down the valley of the Platte, which 
resembled a garden in the splendor of fields of varied flowers, which filled 
the air with fragrance. The only timber I noticed consisted of poplar, 
birch, Cottonwood, and willow. In something less than three miles, we 
crossed Thompson's creek, one of the affluents to the left bank of the 
South fork — a fine stream about sixty-five feet wide, and three feet deep. 
Journeying on, the low dark line of the Black hills lying between us and 
the mountains to the left, in about ten miles from the fort, we reached Cache 
a la Poudre, where we halted to noon. This is a very beautiful moun- 
tain stream, about one hundred feet wide, flowing with a full swift cur- 
rent over a rocky bed. We halted under the shade of some cottonwoods, 
with which the stream is wooded scatteringly. In the upper part of its 
course, it runs amid tiie wildest mountain scenery, and, breaking tiirough 
the Black hills, falls into tlie Platte about ten miles below this place. In 
the course of our late journey, I had managed to become the possessor of 
a very untractable mule — a perfect vixen — and her I had turned over to 
my Spaniard. It occupied us about half an hour to-day to get the saddle 
upon her; but, once on her back, Jose could not be dismounted, realizing 
the accounts given of Mexican horses and horsemanship ; and we contin- 
ued our route in the afternoon. 

At evening, we encamped on Crow (?) creek, having travelled about 
twenty-eight miles. None of the party were well acquainted with the 
country, and I had great difliculty iti ascertaining what were the names 
of the streams we crossed between the North and South forks of the Platte. 
This I supposed to be Crow creek. It is what is called a salt stream, and 
the water stands in pools, having no continuous course. A fine-grained 
sandstone made its appearance in the banks. The observations of the 
night placed us in latitude 40° 42', longitude 104° 57' 49". The barom- 
eter at sunset was 25.231 ; attached thermometer at 66°. Sky clear, except 
in the east, with a light wind from the north. 

July 13. — There being no wood here, we -used last night the bois de 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 33 

vache, which is very plentiful. At our camp this morning, the barometer 
was at 25.235 ; the attached thermometer 60°. A {e.\v clouds were moving 
through a deep-blue sky, with a light wind from the west. After a ride 
of twelve miles, in a northerly direction, over a plain covered with innu- 
merable quanthies of cacti, we reached a small creek in which there was 
water, and where several herds of buftalo were scattered about among the 
ravines, which always afford good pasturage. We seem now to be pass- 
ing along the base of a plateau of the Black hills, in which the formation 
consists of marls, some of them white and laminated ; the country to the 
left rising suddenly, and falling off gradually and uniformly to the right. 
In five or six miles of a northeasterly course, we struck a high ridge, 
broken into conical peaks, on whose summits large boulders were gathered 
in heaps. The magnetic direction ©f the ridge is northwest and south- 
east, the glittering white of its precipitous sides making it visible for many 
miles to the south. It is composed of a soft earthy limestone and marls, 
resembling that, hereafter described, in the neighborhood of the Chimney 
rock, on the North fork of the Platte, easily worked by the winds and 
rains, and sometimes moulded into very fantastic shapes. At the foot of 
the northern slope was the bed of a creek, some forty feet wide, coming, 
by frequent falls, from the bench above. It was shut in by high perpen- 
dicular banks, in which were strata of white laminated marl. Its bed 
was perfectly dry, and the leading feature of the whole region is one 
of remarkable aridity, and perfect freedom from moisture. In about 
six miles we crossed the bed of another dry creek ; and, continuing our 
ride over a high level prairie, a little before sundown we came suddenly 
upon a beautiful creek, which revived us with a feeling of delighted sur- 
prise by the pleasant contrast of the deep verdure of its banks with the 
parched desert we had passed. We had suffered much to-day, both men 
and horses, for want of water ; having met with it but once in our unin- 
terrupted march of forty miles, and an exclusive meat diet creates much 
thirst. 

^^ Las beslias tieneti mucha hamhre,^'' said the young Spaniard, inquir- 
ingly ; *-y la genie lumbien,''^ said I, " amigo, we'll camp here." A stream 
of good and clear water ran winding about through the little valley, and a 
herd of buffalo were quietly feeding a liitle distance below. It was quite 
a hunter's paradise ; and while some ran down toward the band to kill one 
for supper, others collected bois de vache for a fire, there being no wood ; 
and 1 amused myself with hunting for plants among the grass. 

It will be seen, by occasional remarks on the geological formation, that 
the constituents of the soil in these regions are good, and every day served 
to strengthen the impression in my mind, confirmed by subsequent ob- 
servation, that the barren appearance of the country is due almost en- 
tirely to the extreme dryness of the climate. Along our route, the country 
had seemed to increase constantly in elevation. According to the indica- 
tion of the barometer, we were at our encampment 5,440 feet above the 
sea. 

The evening was very clear, with a fresh breeze from the south, 50° 
east. The barometer at sunset was 24.S62, the thermometer attached 
showing 68°. I supposed this to be a fork of Lodge Pole creek, so far as 
I could determine from our uncertain means of information. Astronomi- 
cal observations gave for the camp a longitude of 104° 39' 37", and lati 
tude 41°0S' 31". 

3 



34 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

•July 14, — The wind continued fresh from the same quarter in the morn- 
ing ; the day being cleai, with the exception of a few clouds in the hori- 
zon. At our camp at 6 o'clock, the height of the barometer was 24.830, 
the attached thermometer 61°. Our course this morning was directly 
north by compass, the variation being 15° or 16° easterly. A ride of four 
miles brought us to Lodge Pole creek, which we had seen at its mouth 
on the South fork ; crossing on the way two dry streams, in eighteen miles 
from our encampment of the past night, we reached a high bleak ridge, 
■composed entirely of the same earthy limestone and marl previously de- 
scribed. I had never seen anything which impressed so strongly on my 
mind a feeling of desolation. The valley, through which ran the waters 
of Horse creek, lay in view to the north, but too far to have any influence 
on the immediate view. On the peak of the ridge where I was standing, 
some six or seven hundred feet above the river, the wind was high and 
bleak ; the barren and arid country seemed as if it had been swept by 
■fires, and in every direction the same dull ash-colored hue, derived from 
the formation, met the eye. On the summits were some stunted pines, 
many of them dead, all wearing the same ashen hue of desolation. We 
left the place with pleasure ; and, after we had descended several hundred 
feet, halted in one of the ravines, which, at the distance of every mile or 
two, cut the flanks of the ridge with little rushing streams, wearing some- 
thing of a mountain character. We had already begun to exchange the 
comparatively barren lands for those of a more fertile character. Though 
the sandstone formed the broken banks of the creek, yet they were cov- 
ered with a thin grass ; and the fifty or sixty feet which formed the bottom 
land of the little stream were clothed with very luxuriant grass, among 
wliich I remarked willow and cherry, {cerasus virginiaiia ;) and a quan- 
tity of gooseberry and currant bushes occupied the greater part. 

The creek was three or four feet broad, and about six inches deep, with 
a swift current of clear water, and tolerably cool. We had struck it too 
low down to find the cold water, which we should have enjoyed nearer 
to its sources. At 2, p. m., the barometer was at 25.050, the attached 
thermometer 104°. A day of hot sunshine, with clouds, and a moderate 
breeze from the south. Continuing down the stream, in about four miles 
we reached its mouth, at one of the main branches of Horse creek. Looking 
back upon the ridge, whose direction appeared to be a little to the north oi 
■east, we saw it .seamed at frequent intervals with the dark lines of v/ooded 
streams, afliluents of the river that flowed so far as we could see along its 
base. We crossed, in the space of twelve miles from our noon halt, three 
or four forks of Horse creek, and encamped at sunset on the most easterly/. 
The fork on which we encamped appeared to have followed an easterly 
'direction up to this place ; but here it makes a very sudden bend to the 
north, passing between two ranges of precipitous hills, called, as I was in- 
formed, Goshen's hole. There is somewhere in or near this locality a 
|)laceso called, but I am not certain that it was the place of our encamp- 
ment. Looking back upon the spot, at the distance of a few miles to the 
©oithwaid, the hills appear to shut in the prairie, through wiiich runs the 
<creek, with a semi-circular sweep, which might very naturaU_v be called a 
iiole in the hills. The geological composition of the ridge is the same 
which constitutes the rock of the Court-house and Chimney, on the North 
fork, which appeared to me a continuation of this ridge. The winds and 
•ff^ns work this formation into a variety of singular forms. Tlie pass into 



1S42.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 35 

Goshen's hole is about two miles wig \ and the hill on the western side 
imitates, in an extraordinary manner, ;; massive fortified place, with a re- 
markable fulness of detail. The rock is marl and earthy limestone, white, 
without the least appearance of vegetation, and much resembles masonry 
at a little distance ; and here it sweeps around a level area two or three 
hundred y iris in diameter, and in the form of a half moon, terminating 
onci..icr extremity in enormous bastions. Along the whole line of the 
parapeLS appear domes and slender minarets, forty or fifty feet high, giving 
it every appearance of an old fortified town. On the waters of White 
river, wiiere this formation exists in great extent, it presents appearances 
which excite the admiration of the solitary voyageur, and form a frequent 
theme of their conversation when speaking of the wonders of the country. 
Someiim.es it offers the perfectly illusive appearance of a large city, with 
numerous streets and magnificent buildings, among which the Canadians 
never fail to see their cabaret ; and sometimes it takes the form of a soli- 
tary house, with many large chambers, into which they drive their horses 
at night, and sleep in these natural defences perfectly secure from any at- 
tack of prowling savages. Before reaching our camp at Goshen's hole, in. 
crossing the immense detritus at the foot of the Castle rock, we were in- 
volved amidst winding passages cut by the waters of the hill; and where, 
with a breadth scarcely large enough for the passage of a horse, the walls 
rise thirty and forty feet perpendicularly. Tiiis formation supplies the 
discoloration of the Platte. At sunset, the height of the mercurial column 
was 25.500, the attached thermometer 80°, and v/ind moderate from S. 
38° E. Clouds covered the sky with the rise of the moon, but I succeeded 
in obtaining the usual astronomical observations, which placed us in latitude 
41° 40' 13", and longitude 104° 24' 36". 

July 15. — At 6 this morninsr, the barometer was at 25.51 5, the thermom- 
eter 72°; the day was fine, with some clouds looking dark on the south, witli 
a fresh breeze from the same quarter. We found that in our journey across 
the country we had kept too much to the eastward. This morning, accord- 
ingly, we travelled by compass some 15 or 20° to the west of north, and 
struck the Platte some thirteen miles below Fort Laramie. The day was 
extremely hot, and among the hills the wind seemed to have just issued 
from an oven. Our horses were much distressed, as we had travelled 
hard; and it was with some diiiiculiy that they were all brought to the 
Platte ; which we reached at 1 o'clock. In riding in towards the river, 
we found the trail of our carts, which appeared to have passed a day or 
two since. 

After having allowed our animals two hours for food and repose, we 
resumed our journey, and towards the close of the day came in sight of 
Laramie's fork. Issuing from the river hills, we came first in view of 
Fort Platte, a post belonging to Messrs. Sybille, Adams, & Co., situated 
immediately in the point of land at the junction of Laramie with the 
Platte. Like the post we had visited on the South fork, it was built of 
earth, and still unfinished, being enclosed with walls (or rather houses) oa 
three of the sides, and open on the fourth to the river. A few hundred 
yards brought us in view of the post of the American Fur Company, call- 
ed Fort John, or Laramie. This was a large post, having more the air of 
military construction than the fort at the mouth of the river. It is on the 
left bank, on a rising ground some twenty five feet above the water; and 
its lofty walls, whitewashed and picketed, with the large bastions at the 



36 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

angles, gave it quite an imposing appearance in the uncertain light of 
evening. A cluster of lodges, which the language told us belonged to 
Sioux Indians, was pitched under the walls, and, with the fine back 
ground of the Black hills and the prominent peak of Laramie mountain^ 
strongly drawn in the clear light of the western sky, where the sun had 
already set, the whole formed at the moment a strikingly beauiiful oicture. 
From the company at St. Louis I had letters for Mr. Boudeau, tne gentle- 
man in charge of the post, by whom I was received with great hospitahiy 
and an efficient kindness, which was invaluable to me during my stay in 
the country. I found our people encamped on the bank, a short distance 
above the fort. Ail were well ; and, in the enjoyment of a bountiful sup- 
per, which coffee and bread made luxurious to us, we soon forgot the fa- 
tigues of the last ten days. 

July 16. — I found that, during my absence, the situation of affairs had 
undergone some change; and the usual quiet and somewhat monotonous 
regularity of the camp had given place to excitement and alarm. The 
circumstances which occasioned this change will be found narrated in the 
following extract from the journal of Mr. Preuss, which commences with 
the day of our separation on the South fork of the Platte. 

Extract from tlie journal of Mr. Preuss. 

'^July 6. — We crossed the plateau or highland between the two forks in 
about six hours. I let my horse go as slow as he liked, to indemnify us 
both for the previous hardship ; and about noon we reached the North 
fork. There was no sign that our party had passed ; we rode, therefore, 
to some pine trees, unsaddled the horses, and stretched our limbs on the 
grass, awaiting the arrival of our company. After remaining here two 
hours, my companion became impatient, mounted his horse again, and 
rode off down the river to see if he could discover our people. I felt so 
marode yet, that it was a horrible idea to me to bestride that saddle again;, 
so I lay still. I knew they could not come any other way, and then my 
companion, one of the best men of the company, would not abandon me. 
The sun went down; he did not come. Uneasy I did not feel, but very 
hungry; I had no provisions, but I could make a fire; and as I espied 
two doves in a tree, I tried to kill one ; but it needs a better marksman 
than myself to kill a little bird with a rifle. I made a large fire, however, 
lighted my pipe — this true friend of mine in every emergency — lay down, 
and let my thoughts wander to the far east. It was not many minutes after 
when I heard the tramp of a horse, and my faithful companion was by 
my side. He had found the party, who had been delayed by making 
their cache, about seven miles below. To the good supper which he 
brought with him I did ample justice. He had forgotten salt, and I tried 
the soldier's substitute in time of war, and used gunpowder ; but it an- 
swered badly — bitter enough, but no flavor of kitchen salt. I slept well ; 
and was only disturbed by two owls, which were attracted by the fire, 
and took their place in the tree under which we slept. Their music 
seemed as disagreeable to my companion as to myself; he fired his rifle 
twice, and then they let us alone. 

'■'July 7. — At about 10 o'clock, the party arrived; and we continued our 
journey through a country which offered but little to interest the traveller. 
The soil was much more sandy than in the valley below the confluence 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 37 

of the forks, and the face of the country no longer presented the refresh- 
ing green which had hitherto characterized it. The rich grass was now 
found only in dispersed spots, on low grounds, and on the bottom land of 
the streams. A long drought, joined to extreme heat, had so parched up 
the upper prairies, that they were in many places bald, or covered only 
with a thin growth of yellow and poor grass. The nature of the soil ren- 
ders it extremely susceptible to the vicissitudes of the climate. Between 
the forks, and from their junction to the Black hills, the formation con- 
sists of marl and a soft earthy limestone, with granitic sandstone. Such a 
formation cannot give rise to a sterile soil ; and, on our return in Septem- 
ber, when the country had been watered by frequent rains, the valley of 
the Platte looked like a garden ; so rich was the verdure of the grasses, 
and so luxuriant the bloom of abundant flowers. The wild sage begins to 
make its appearance, and timber is so scarce tliat we generally made our 
fires of the bois de vache. With the exception of now and then an isolated 
tree or two, standing like a lighthouse on the river bank, there is none 
whatever to he seen. 

" July S. — Our road to-day was a solitary one. No game made its appear- 
ance — not even a buffalo or a stray antelope ; and nothing occurred to break 
the monotony until about 5 o'clock, when the caravan made a sudden halt. 
There was a galloping in of scouts and horsemen from every side — a hur- 
rying to and fro in noisy confusion ; rifles were taken from their cover ; 
bullet pouches examined : in short, there was the cry of ' Indians,' heard 
again. I had become so much accustomed to these alarms, that now they 
made but little impression on me ; and before I had time to become ex- 
cited, the new comers were ascertained to be whites. It was a large party 
of traders and trappers, conducted by Mr. Bridger, a man well known in 
the history of the country. As the sun was low, and there was a fine grass 
patch not far ahead, they turned back and encamped for the night with 
us. Mr. Bridger was invited to supper ; and, after ihe table cloth was 
removed, we listened with eager interest to an account of their adventures. 
What they had met, we would be likely to encounter; the chances which 
had befallen them, would probably happen to us ; and we looked upon 
their life as a picture of our own. He informed us that the condition of 
the country liad become exceedingly dangerous. The Sioux, who had 
been badly disposed, had broken out into open histility, and in the preced- 
ing autumn his party had encountered them in a severe engagement, in 
which a number of lives had been lost on both sides. United with the 
Cheyenne and Gros Ventre Indians, they were scouring the upper country 
in war parties of great force, and were at this time in the neighborhood of 
the Red Buites, a famous landmark, which was directly on our path. 
They had declared war upon every living thing which sliould be found 
westward of that point ; though their main object was to attack a large 
camp of whites and Snake Indians, who had a rendezvous in the Sweet 
Water valley. Availing himself of his intimate knowledge of the country, 
he had reached Laramie by an unusual route through the Black hills, and 
avoided coming into contact with any of the scattered parties. This gen- 
tleman oftered his services to accompany us so far as the head of the Sweet 
Water ; but thu absence of our leader, which was deeply regretted by us 
all, rendered it impossible for us to enter upon such arrangement. In a 
camp consisting of men whose lives had been spent in this country, I ex- 
pected to find every one prepared for occurrences of this nature ; but, to 



38 « CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

my great surprise, I found, on the contrary, that this news had thrown 
them all into the greatest consternation; and, on every side, I heard only 
one exclamation, ' // rCy aura pas de vie jjour 7ious.' All the night, scat- 
tered groups were assembled around the fires, smoking their pipes, and 
listening with the greatest eagerness to exaggerated details of Indian hos- 
tilities; and in the morniug I found the camp dispirited, and agitated by 
a variety of conflicting opinions. A majority of the people were strongly" 
disposed to return ; but Clement Lambert, with some five or six others, 
professed their determination to follow Mr. Fremont to the uttermost limit 
of his journey. The others yielded to their remonstrances, and, some- 
what ashamed of their cowardice, concluded to advance at least so far as 
Laramie fork, eastward of which they were aware no danger was to be 
apprehended. Notwithstanding the confusion and excitement, we were 
very early on the road, as the days were extremely hot, and we were 
anxious to profit by the freshness of the morning. The soft marly form- 
ation, over which we were now journeying, frequently offers to the trav- 
eller views of remarkable and picturesque beauty. To several of these 
localities, where the winds and the rain have worked the bluffs into 
curious shapes, the voyageurs have given names according to some fan- 
cied resemblance. One of these, called the Court-house, we passed about 
six miles from our encampment of last night, and toward noon came in 
sight of the celebrated Chimney rock. It looks, at this distance of about 
thirty miles, like what it is called — the long chimney of a steam factory es- 
tablishment, or a shot tower in Baltimore. Nothing occurred to interrupt 
the quiet of the day, and we encamped on the river, after a march of twen- 
ty-four miles. Buffalo had become very scarce, and but one cow had been 
killed, of which the meat had been cut into thin slices, and hung around 
the carts to dry. 

^^ July 10. — We continued along the same fine plainly beaten road, 
which the smooth surface of the country afforded us, for a distance of six 
hundred and thirty miles, from the frontiers of Missouri to the Laramie fork. 
In the course of the day we met some whites, who were following along 
in the train of Mr. Bridger ; and, after a day's journey of twenty-four 
miles, encamped about sunset at the Chimney rock. It consists of marl 
and earthy limestone, and the weather is rapidly diminishing its height, 
which is now not more than two hundred feet above the river. Travel- 
ers who visited it some years since placed its height at upwards of five 
hundred feet. 

^'- July 11. — The valley of the North fork is of a variable breadth, from 
one to four, and sometimes six miles. Fifteen miles from the Chimney 
rock we reached one of those places where the river strikes the bluffs, 
and forces the road to make a considerable circuit over the uplands. 
This presented an escarpment on the river of about nine hundred yards 
in length, and is familiarly known as Scott's bluffs. We had made a 
journey of thirty miles before we again struck the river, at a place where 
some scanty grass afforded an insufficient pasturage to our animals. 
About twenty miles from the Chimney rock we had found a very beau- 
tiful spring of excellent and cold water ; but it was in such a deep ravine, 
and so small, that the animals could not profit by it, and we therefore 
halted only a few minutes, and found a resting place ten miles further 
on. The plain between Scott's bluffs and Chimney rock was almost 



1S42.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 3ft. 

entirely covered with drift wood, consisting principally of cedar, which,, 
we were informed, had been supplied from the Black hills, in a flood five 
or six years since. 

'■'■July 12. — Nine miles from our encampment of yesterday we crossed 
Horse creek, a shallow stream of clear water, about seventy yards wide, 
falling into the Platte on the right bank. It was lightly timbered, and 
great quantities of drift wood were piled up on the banks, appearing to be 
supplied by the creek from above. After a journey of tweuty-six miles.^ 
we encamped on a rich bottom, which afforded fine grass to our animals. 
Buffalo have entirely disappeared, and we live now upon the dried meat,, 
which is exceedingly poor food. The marl and earthy limestone, which 
constituted the formation for several days past, had changed during the 
day into a compact white or grayish white limestone, sometimes contain- 
ing hornstone ; and at the place of our encampment this evening, some 
strata in the river hills cropped out to the height of thirty or forty {^Q\y 
consisting of a fine-grained granitic sandstone; one of the strata closely 
resembling gneiss. 

'■^ July 13. — To-day, about 4 o'clock, we reached Fort Laramie, where 
we were cordially received ; we pitched our camp a little above the forjt, 
on the bank of Laramie river, in which the pure and clear water of the 
mountain stream looked refreshingly cool, and made a pleasant contrast to 
the muddy, yellow waters of the Platte." 

I walked up to visit our friends at the fort, which is a quadrangular 
structure, built of clay, after the fashion of the Mexicans, who are gene- 
rally employed in building them. The walls are about fifteen feet higb> 
surmounted with a wooden palisade, and form a portion of ranges of 
houses, which entirely surround a yard of about one hundred and thirty 
feet square. Every apartment has its door and window — all, of course, 
opening on the inside. There are two entrances, opposite each other, and 
midway the wall, one of which is a large and public entrance ; the other 
smaller and more private — a sort of postern gate. Over the great entrance 
is a square tower with loopholes, and, like the rest of the work, built of 
earth. At two of the angles, and diagonally opposite eacli other, are large 
square bastions, so arranged as to sweep the four faces of the walls. 

This post belongs to the American Fur Company, and, at the time of our 
visit, was in charge of Mr. Boudeau. Two of the company's clerks, Messrs. 
Galpin and Kellogg, were with him, and he had in the fort about sixteen 
men. As usual, these had found wives among the Indian squaws; and> 
with the usual accompaniment of children, the place had quite a populous 
appearance. It is hardly »ecessary to say, that the object of the establish- 
ment is trade with the neighboring tribes, who, in the course of the year^ 
generally make two or three visits to the fort. In addition to this, traders, 
with a small outfit, are constantly kept amongst them. The articles of 
trade consist, on the one side, almost entirely of buffalo robes; and, on the 
other, of blankets, calicoes, guns, powder, and lead, with such cheap or- 
naments as glass beads, looking-glasses, rings, vermilion for painting, to- 
bacco, and principally, and in spite of the prohibition, of spirits, brought 
into the country in the form of alcohol, and diluted with water before 
sold. While mentioning this fact, it is but justice to the American Fur 
Company to state, that, throughout the country, I have always found 
them strenuously opposed to the introduction of spirituous liquors. But,. 



40 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

in the present state of things, when the country is suppUed with alcohol, 
wlien a keg of it will purchase from an Indian every thing he possesses — 
his furs, his lodge, his horses, and even his wife and children — and when 
any vagabond who has money enough to purchase a mule can go into a 
village and trade against them successfully, without withdrawing entirely 
from the trade, it is impossible for them to discontinue its use. In their 
opposition to this practice, the company is sustained, not only by their 
obligation to the laws of the country and the welfare of the Indians, but 
clearly, also, on grounds of policy ; for, with heavy and expensive outfits, 
they contend at manifestly great disadvantage against the numerous inde- 
pendent and unlicensed traders, who enter the country from various ave- 
nues, from the United States and from Mexico, having no other stock in 
trade than some kegs of liquor, which they sell at the modest price of 
thirty-six dollars per gallon. The difference between the regular trader 
and the coureur des bois, (as the French call the itinerant or peddling tra- 
ders,) Avith respect to the sale of spirits, is here, as it always has been, fix- 
ed and permanent, and growing out of the nature of their trade. The 
regular trader looks ahead, and has an interest in the preservation of the 
Indians, and in the regular pursuit of their business, and the preservation 
of their arms, horses, and every thing necessary to their future and perma- 
nent success in hunting : the coureur des bois has no permanent interest, 
and gets what he can, and for what he can, from every Indian he meets, 
even at the risk of disabling him from doing any thing more at hunting. 

The fort had a very cool and clean appearance. The great entrance, in 
which I found the gentlemen assembled, and which was floored, and about 
fifteen feet long, made a pleasant, shaded seat, through which the breeze 
swept constantly ; for this country is famous for high winds. In the 
course of conversation, I learned the following particulars, which will ex- 
plain the condition of the country: For several years the Cheyennes and 
Sioux had gradually become more and more hostile to the whites, and 
in the latter part of August, 1841, had had a rather severe engagement with 
a party of sixty men, under the command of Mr. Frapp, of St. Louis. The 
Indians lost eight or ten warriors, and the whites had their leader and 
fi)ur men killed. This fight took place on the waters of Snake river ; and 
it was this party, on their return under Mr. Bridger, which had spread 
so much alarm among my people. In the course of the spring, two other 
small parties had been cut off by the Sioux — one on their return from the 
Crow nation, and the other among the Black hills. The emigrants to 
Oregon and Mr. Bridger's party met here, a few days before our arrival. 
Division and misunderstandings had grown ifp among them ; they were 
already somewhat disheartened by the fatigue of their long and weari- 
some journey, and the feet of their cattle had become so much worn as 
to be scarcely able to travel. In this situation, they were not likely to 
find encouragement in the hostile attitude of the Indians, and the new 
and unexpected difficulties which sprang up before them. They were 
told that the country was entirely swept of grass, and that few or no buffa- 
lo were to be found on their line of route ; and, with their weakened ani- 
mals, it would be impossible for them to transport their heavy wagons 
over the mountain. Under these circumstances, they disposed of their 
wagons and cattle at the forts; selling them at the prices they had paid 
in the States, and taking in exchange coffee and sugar at one dollar a 
pound, and miserable worn-out horses, which died before they reached 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 41 

the mountains, Mr. Boudean informed me that he had purchased thirty, 
and the lower fort eighty head of fine cattle, some of them of the Durham 
breed. Mr. Fitzpatrick, whose name and high reputation are familiar to 
all who interest themselves in the history of this country, had reached 
Laramie in company with Mr. Bridger ; and the emigrants were fortunate 
enough to obtain his services to guide them as far as the British post of 
Fort Hall, about two hundred and fifty miles beyond the South Pass of 
the mountains. They had started for this post on the 4lh of July, and, 
immediaiely after their departure, a war party of three hundred and fifty 
braves sat out upon their trail. As their principal chief or partisan had 
lost some relations in the recent fight, and had sworn to kill the first whites 
on his path, it was supposed that their intention was to attack the party, 
should a favorable opportunity offer ; or, if they were foiled in their prin- 
cipal object by the vigilance of Mr. Fitzpatrick, content themselves with 
stealing horses and cutting off stragglers. These had been gone but a few 
days previous to our arrival. 

The effect of the engagement with Mr, Frapp had been greatly to irri- 
tate the hostile spirit of the savages; and immediately subsequent to that 
event, the Gros Ventre Indians had united with the Oglallahs and Chey- 
ennes, and taken the field in great force — so far as I could ascertain, to the 
amount of eight hundred lodges. Their object was to make an attack 
on a camp of Snake and Crow Indians, and a body of about one hundred 
whites, who had made a rendezvous somewhere in the Green river valley, 
or on the Sweet Water. After spending some time in buffalo hunting in 
the neighborhood of the Medicine Bow mountain, they were to cross over 
to the Green river waters, and return to Laramie by way of the South Pass 
and the Sweet Water valley. According to the calculation of the Indians, 
Mr. Boudeau informed me they were somewhere near the head of the 
Sweet Water. I subsequently learned that the party led by Mr. Fitzpat- 
rick were overtaken by their pursuers near Rock Independence, in the 
valley of the Sweet Water; but his skill and resolution saved them from 
surprise, and, small as his force was, they did not venture to attack him 
openly. Here they lost one of their party by an accident, and, continuing 
up the valley, they came suddenly upon the large village. From these 
they met with a doubtful reception. Long residence and familiar acquaint- 
ance had given to Mr. Fitzpatrick great personal influence among them, 
and a portion of them were disposed to let him pass quietly ; but by far 
the greater number were inclined to hostile measures ; and the chiefs spent 
the whole of one night, during which they kept the little party in the midst 
of them, in council, debating the question of attacking them the next day ; 
but the influence of " the Broken Hand," as they called Mr. Fitzpatrick, 
(one of his hands having been shattered by the bursting of a gun,) at length 
prevailed, and obtained for them an unmolested passage ; but they sternly 
assured him that this path was no longer open, and that any party of 
■whites which should hereafter be found upon it would meet with certain 
destruction. From all that I have been able to learn, I have no doubt 
that the emigrants owe their lives to Mr. Fitzpatrick. 

Thus it would appear that the country was swarming with scattered 
war parties ; and when I heard, durhig the day, the various contradictory 
and exaggerated rumors which were incessantly repeated to them, I was 
not surprised that so much alarm prevailed among my men. Carson, one 
of the best and most experienced mountaineers, fully supported the 



42 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

opinion given by Bridger of the dangerous state of the country, and 
openly expressed his conviction that we could not escape without some 
sharp encounters with the Indians. In addition to this, he made his will ; 
and among the circumstances which were constantly occurring to increase 
their alarm, this was the most unfortunate ; and I found that a number 
of my party had become so much intimidated, that they had requested to 
be discharged at this place. I dined to-day at Fort Platte, which has 
been mentioned as situated at the junction of Laramie river with the Ne- 
braska. Here I heard a confirmation of the statements given above. 
The party of warriors, which had started a few days since on the trail of 
the emigrants, was expected back in fourteen days, to join the village 
with which their families and the old men had remained. The arrival 
of the latter was hourly expected ; and some Indians have just come in 
who had left them on the Laramie fork, about twenty miles above. Mr. 
Bissonette, one of the traders belonging to Fort Platte, urged the propriety 
of taking with me an interpreter and two or three old men of the village ; 
in which case, he thought there would be little or no hazard in encounter- 
ing any of the war parties. The principal danger was in being attacked 
before they should know who we were. 

They had a confused idea of the numbers and power of our people, and 
dreaded to bring upon themselves the military force of the United States. 
This gentleman, who spoke the language fluently, offered his services to 
accompany me so far as the Red Buttes. He was desirous to join the 
large party on its return, for purposes of trade, and it would suit his views, 
as well as my own, to go with us to the Buttes; beyond which point it 
would be impossible to prevail on a Sioux to venture, on account of their 
fear of the Crows. From Fort Laramie to the Red Buttes, by the ordi- 
nary road, is one hundred and thirty-five miles ; and, though only on the 
threshold of danger, it seemed better to secure the services of an inter- 
preter for the partial distance, than to have none at all. 

So far as frequent interruption from the Indians would allow, we occu- 
pied ourselves m making some astronomical calculations, and bringing up 
the general map to this stage of our journey ; but the tent was generally 
occupied by a succession of our ceremonious visiters. Some came for 
presents, and others for information of our object in coming to the country ; 
how and then, one would dart up to the tent on horseback, jerk off his 
trappings, and stand silently at the door, holding his horse by the halter, 
signifying his desire to trade. Occasionally a savage would stalk in with 
an invitation to a feast of honor, a dog feast, and deliberately sit down 
and wait quietly until I was ready to accompany him. I went to one ; 
the women and children were sitting outside the lodge, and we took our 
seats on buffalo robes spread around. The dog was in a large pot over 
the fire, in the middle of the lodge, and immediately on our arrival was 
dished up in large wooden bowls, one of which was handed to each. 
The flesh appeared very glutinous, with something of the flavor and ap- 
pearance of mutton. Feeling sometningmove behind me, I looked round, 
and found that I had taken my seat among a litter of fat young puppies. 
Had I been nice in such matters, the prejudices of civilization might have 
interfered with my tranquillity ; but, fortunately, I am not of delicate 
nerves, and continued quietly to empty my platter. 

The weather was cloudy at evening, with a moderate south wind, and 
the thermometer at 6 o'clock 85°. I was disappointed in my hope of ob- 



1S42.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 43 

taining an observation of an occultation, which took place about midnight. 
The moon brought with her heavy banks of clouds, through which she 
scarcely made her appearance during the night. 

The morning of the 18th was cloudy and calm, the thermometer at 6 
o'clock at 64°. About 9, with a moderate wind from the west, a storm of 
rain came on, accompanied by sharp thunder and lightning, which lasted 
about an hour. During the day the expected village arrived, consisting 
principally of old men, women, and children. They had a considerable 
number of horses, and large troops of dogs. Their lodges were pitched 
near the fort, and our camp was constantly crowded with Indians of all 
sizes, from morning until night; at which time some of the soldiers gen- 
erally came to drive them all off to the village. My tent was the only 
place which they respected. Here only came the chiefs and men of dis- 
tinction, and generally one of them remained to drive away the women 
and children. The numerous strange instruments, applied to still stranger 
uses, excited awe and admiration among them, and those which I used 
in talking with the sun and stars they looked upon with especial rever- 
ence, as mysterious things of "great medicine." Of the three barometers 
which I had brought with me thus far successfully, I found that two were 
out of order, and spent the greater part of the I 9th in repairing them — 
an operation of no small difficulty in the midst of the incessant interrup- 
tions to which I was subjected. We had the misfortune to break here a 
large thermometer, graduated to show fifths of a degree, which I used to 
ascertain the temperature of boiling water, and with which I had promised 
myself some interesting experiments in the mountains. We had but one 
remaining, on which the graduation extended sufficiently high ; and this 
was too small for exact observations. During our stay here, the men had 
been engaged in making numerous repairs, arranging pack saddles, and 
otherwise preparing for the chances of a rough road and mountain travel. 
All things of this nature being ready, I gathered them around me in the 
evening, and told them that " I had determined to proceed the next day. 
They were all well armed. I had engaged the services of Mr. Bissonette 
as interpreter, and had taken, in the circumstances, every possible means 
to insure our safety. In the rumors we had heard, I believed there was 
much exaggeration, and then they were men accustomed to this kind of 
life and to the country ; and that these were the dangers of every day 
occurrence, and to be expected in the ordinary course of their service. 
They had heard of the unsettled condition of the country before leaving 
St. Louis, and therefore could not make it a reason for breaking their en- 
gagements. Still, I was unwilling to take with me, on a service of some 
certain danger, men on whom I could not rely ; and as I had understood 
that there were among them some who were disposed to cowardice, and 
anxious to return, they had but to come forward at once, and state their 
desire, and they would be discharged with the amount due to them for 
the time they had served." To their honor be it said, there was but one 
among Ihem who had the face to come forward and avail himself of the 
permission. I asked him some few questions, in order to expose him to 
the ridicule of the men, and let him go. The day after our departure, he 
engaged himself to one of the forts, and set off with a party for the Upper 
^Missouri. I did not think that the situation of the country justified me in 
taking our young companions, Messrs. Brant and Benton, along with us. 
In case of misfortune, it would have been thought, at the least, an act of 



44 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

great imprudence ; and therefore, though reluctantly, I determmed to leave 
them. Randolph had been the life of the camp, and the ^^ petit garcon^- 
was much regretted by the men, to whom his buoyant spirits had afforded 
great amusement. They all, however, agreed in the propriety of leaving 
him at the fort, because, as they said, he might cost the lives of some of the 
men' in a fight with the Indians. 

July 21. — A portion of our baggage, with our field notes and observa- 
tions, and several instrumants, v/ere left at the fort. One of the gentlemen, 
Mr. Galpin, took charge of a barometer, which he engaged to observe 
during my absence; and I intrusted to Randolph, by way of occupation, 
the regular winding up of two of my chronometers, which were among the 
instruments left. Our observations showed that the chronometer which I 
retained for the continuation of our voyage had preserved its rate in a most 
satisfactory manner. As deduced from it, the longitude of Fort Laramie is 
Ih. or 21", and from lunar distance Ih. 01' 29"; giving for the adopted 
longitude 104° 47' 43". Comparing the barometrical observations made 
during our stay here, with those of Dr. G. Engelmah at St. Louis, we find 
for the elevation of the fort above the Gulf of Mexico 4,470 feet. The 
winter climate here is remarkably mild for the latitude ; but rainy weather 
is frequent, and the place is celebrated for winds, of which the prevailing 
one is west. An east wind in summer, and a south wind in winter, are 
said to be always accompanied with rain. 

We were ready to depart; the tents were struck, the mules geared up, 
and our horses saddled, and we walked up to the fort to take the stirrup 
cup with our friends in an excellent home-brewed preparation. While 
thus pleasantly engaged, seated in one of the little cool chambers, at the 
door of which a man had been stationed to prevent all intrusion from the 
Indians, a number of chiefs, several of them powerful fine-looking men, 
forced their way into the room in spite of all opposition. Handing me the 
following letter, they took their seats in silence : 

" Fort Platte, Juillet 1, 1842. 

"Mk. Fremont: Les ches s'etant assembles presentement me disent 
de vous avertir de ne point vous mettre en route, avant que le parti de 
jeunes gens, qui est en dehors, soient de retour. De plus, ils me disent 
qu'ils sont tre certains qu'ils feront feu a la premiere rencontre. lis 
doivent etre de retour dans sept a huit jours. Excusez si je vous fais cos 
observations, mais il me semble qu'il est mon devoir de vous avertir du 
danger. Meme de plus, les chefs sont les porteurs de ce billet, qui vous 
defendent de parlir avant le retour des guerriers. 
" Je suis votre obeissant serviteur, 

"JOSEPH BISSONETTE, 

" Par L. B. CHARTRAIN. 

^^ Les noms de quelques chefs. — Le Chapeau de Loutre, le Casseur de 
Fleches, la Nuit Noir, la Queue de Boeuf." 

[Translation.] 

''Fort Platte, July 1, 1842. 
"Mr. Fremont: The chiefs, having assembled in council, have just 
told me to warn you not to set out before the party of young men which 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 45 

is now out shall have returned. Furthermore, they tell me that they are 
very sure they will fire upon you as soon as they meet you. They are 
expected back in seven or eight days. Excuse me for making these ob- 
servations, but it seems my duty to warn you of danger. Moreover, the 
chiefs who prohibit your setting out before the return of the warriors are 
the bearers of this note. 

'' I am your obedient servant, 

"JOSEPH BISSONETTE, 

«By L. B. CHARTRAIN. 

'■' Names of some of the chiefs. — The Otter Hat, the Breaker of Arrows, 
the Black Night, the Bull's Tail." 

After reading this, I mentioned its purport to my companions ; and, see- 
ing that all were fully possessed of its contents, one of the Indians rose 
up, and, having first shaken hands with me, spoke as follows : 

" You have come among us at a bad time. Some of our people have 
been killed, and our young men, who are gone to the mountains, are 
eager to avenge the blood of their relations, which has been shed by the 
whites. Our young men are bad, and, if they meet you, they will believe 
that you are carrying goods and ammunition to their enemies, and will 
lire upon you. You have told us that this will make war. We know that 
our great father has many soldiers and big guns, and we are anxious to 
have our lives. We love the whites, and are desirous of peace. Think- 
ing of all these things, we have determined to keep you here until our 
warriors return. We are glad to see you among us. Our father is rich, 
and we expected that you would have brought presents to us — horses, and 
guns, and blankets. But we are glad to see you. We look upon your 
coming as the light which goes before tlie sun ; for you will tell our great 
father that you have seen us, and that we are naked and poor, and have 
nothing to eat; and he will send us all these things." He was followed 
by the others, to the same effect. 

The observations of the savage appeared reasonable ; but I was aware 
that they had in view only the present object of detaining me, and were 
unwiUing I should go further into the country. In reply, I asked them, 
through the interpretation of Mr. Boudeau, to select two or three of their 
number to accompany us until we should meet their people — they should 
spread their robes in my tent and eat at my table, and on our return I 
would give them presents in reward of their services. They declined, 
saying that there were no young men left in the village, and that they 
were too old to travel so many days on horseback, and preferred now to 
smoke their pipes in the lodge, and let the warriors go on the Avar path. 
Besides, they had no power over the young men, and were afraid to inter- 
fere with them. In my turn I addressed them : '• You say that you love 
the whites; why have you killed so many already this spring.'' You say 
that you love the whites, and are full of many expressions of friendship to 
us ; but you are not willing to undergo the fatigue of a few days' ride to 
save our lives. We do not believe what you have said, and will not lis- 
ten to you. Whatever a chief among us tells his soldiers to do, is done. 
We are the soldiers of the great chief, your father. He has told us to 
come here and see this country, and all the Indians, his children. Why 



46 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

should we not go ? Before Ave came, we heard that you had killed his 
people, and ceased to be his children ; but we came among you peaceably, 
holding out our hands. Now we find that the stories we heard are not 
lies, and that you are no longer his friends and children. We have thrown 
away our bodies, and will not turn back. When you told us that your 
young men would kill us, you did not know that our hearts were strong, 
and you did not see the rifles which ray young men carry in their hands. 
We are few, and you are many, and may kill us all; but there will be 
much crying in your villages, for many of your young men will stay be- 
hind, and forget to return with your warriors from the mountains. Do 
you think that our great chief will let his soldiers die, and forget to cover 
their graves ? Before the snows melt again, his warriors will sweep away 
your villages as the fire does the prairie in the autumn. See ! I have 
pulled down my luhite houses, and my people are ready : when the sun is 
ten paces higher, we shall be on the march. If you have any thing to tell 
us, you will say it soon." I broke up the conference, as I could do noth- 
ing with these people ; and, being resolved to proceed, nothing was to be 
gained by delay. Accompanied by our hospitable friends, we returned to 
the camp. We had mounted our horses, and our parting salutations had 
been exchanged, when owe of the chiefs (the Ball's Tail) arrived to tell 
me that they had determined to send a young man with us; and if I 
would point out the place of our evening camp, he should join us there. 
^' The young man is poor," said he ; " he has no horse, and expects you to 
give him one." I described to him the place where I intended to encamp, 
and, shaking hands, in a few minutes we were among the hills, and this 
last habitation of whites shut out from our view. 

The road led over an interesting plateau between the North fork of the 
Platte on the right, and Laramie river on the left. At the distance of ten 
miles from the foit, we entered the sandy bed of a creek, a kind of defile, 
shaded by precipitous rocks, down which we wound our way for several 
hundred yards, to a place where, on the left bank, a very large spring 
gushes with considerable noise and force out of the limestone rock. It is 
called " the Warm Spring," and furnishes to the hitherto dry bed of the 
creek a considerable rivulet. On the opposite side, a little below the 
spring, is a lofty limestone escarpment, partially shaded by a grove of 
large trees, whose green foliage, in contrast with the whiteness of the rock, 
renders this a picturesque locality. The rock is fossiliferous, and, so far as 
I was able to determine the character of the fossils, belongs to the carbonif- 
erous limestone of the Missouri river, and is probably the western limit of 
that formation. Beyond this point I met with no fossils of any descrip- 
tion. 

I was desirous to visit the Platte near the point where it leaves the 
Black hills, and therefore followed this stream, for two or three miles, to 
the mouth ; where I encamped on a spot which afforded good grass and 
prtle {equisetum) for our animals. Our tents having been found too thin 
to protect ourselves and the instruments from the rains, whicli in this 
elevated country are attended with cold and unpleasant weather, I had 
procured from tiie Indians at Laramie a tolerably large lodge, about eigh- 
teen feet in diameter, and twenty feet in height. Such a lodge, when 
properly pitched, is, from its conical form, almost perfectly secure against 
the violent winds which are frequent in this region, and, with a fire in the 
centre, is a dry and warm shelter in bad weather. By raising the lower 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 47 

part, so as to permit the breeze to pass freely, it is converted into a pleas- 
ant summer residence, with the extraordinary advantage of being entirely 
free from mosquitoes, one of which I have never seen in an Indian lodge. 
While we were engaged very unskilfully in erecting this, the interpreter, 
Mr. Bissonette, arrived, accompanied by the Indian and his wife. She 
laughed at our awkwardness, and offered her assistance, of which we were 
frequently afterward obliged to avail ourselves, before the men acquired 
sufficient expertness to pitch it without dithculty. From this place we 
had a fine view of the gorge where the Platte issues from the Black hills, 
changing its character abruptly from a mountain stream into a river of the 
plains. Immediately around us- the valley of the stream was tolerably 
open ; and at the distance of a few miles, where the river had cut its way 
through the hills, was the narrow cleft, on one side of which a lofty preci- 
pice of bright red rock rose vertically above the low hills which lay be- 
tween us. 

July 22. — In the morning, while breakfast was being prepared, I visited 
this place with my favorite man, Basil Lajeunesse. Entering so far as 
there was footing for the mules, we dismounted, and, tying our animals, 
continued our way on foot. Like the whole country, the scenery of the 
river had undergone an entire change, and was in this place the most 
beautiful I have ever seen. The breadth of the stream, generally near 
that of its valley, was from two to three hundred feet, with a swift cur- 
rent, occasionally broken by rapids, and the water perfectly clear. On 
either side rose the red precipices, vertical, and sometimes overhanging, 
two and four hundred feet in height, crowned with green summits, on 
which were scattered a few pines. At the foot of the rocks was the usual 
detritus, formed of masses fallen from above. Among the pines that grew 
here, and on the occasional banks, were the cherry, {cerasus virgbiiana,) 
currants, and grains de bceuf {shepherdia argenlea.) Viewed in the sun- 
shine of a pleasant morning, the scenery was of a most striking and ro- 
mantic beauty, which arose from the picturesque disposition of the objects, 
and the vivid contrast of colors. I thought with much pleasure of our 
approaching descent in the canoe through such interesting places; and, in 
the expectation of being able at that time to give to them a full examina- 
tion, did not now dwell so much as might have been desirable upon the 
geological formations along the line of the river, where they are developed 
with great clearness. The upper portion of the red strata consists of very 
compact clay, in which are occasionally seen imbedded large pebbles. 
Below was a stratum of compact red sandstone, changing a little above 
the river into a very hard siliceous limestone. There is a small but hand- 
some open prairie immediately below this place, on the left bank of the 
river, which would be a good locality for a military post* There are some 
open groves of cotton wood on the Platte. The small stream which comes 
in at this place is well timbered with pine, and good building rock is 
abundant. 

If it is in contemplation to keep open the communications with Oregon 
territory, a show of military force in this country is absolutely necessary; 
and a combination of advantages renders the neighborhood of Fort Lara- 
mie the most suitable place, on the line of the Platte, for the establishment 
of a military post. It is connected with the mouth of the Platte and the 
Upper Missouri by excellent roads, which are in frequent use, and would 



48 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842, 

not in any way interfere with the range of the buffalo, on which the 
neighboring Indians mainly depend for support. It would render any 
posts on the Lower Platte unnecessary ; the ordinary communication be- 
tween it and the Missouri being sufficient to control the intermediate In- 
dians. It would operate effectually to prevent any such coalitions as are 
now formed among the Gros Ventres, Sioux, Cheyennes, and other Indians, 
and would keep the Oregon road through the valley of the Sweet Water 
and the South Pass of the mountains constantly open. It lies at the foot of 
a broken and mountainous region, along which, by the establishment of 
small posts in the neighborhood of St. Vrain's fort, on the South fork of 
the Platte, and Bent's fort, on the Arkansas, a line of communication wotild 
be formed, by good ivagon roads, with our southern military posts, which 
would entirely command the mountain passes, hold some of the most 
troublesome tribes in check, and protect and facilitate our intercourse with 
the neighboring Spanish settlements. The valleys of the rivers on which 
they would be situated are fertile ; the country, which supports immense 
herds of buffalo, is admirably adapted to grazing ; and herds of cattle might 
be maintained by the posts, or obtained from the Spanish country, which 
already supplies a portion of their provisions to the trading posts mentioned 
above. 

Just as we were leaving the camp this morning, our Indian came up, 
and stated his intention of not proceeding any further until he had seen 
the horse which I intended to give him. I felt strongly tempted to drive 
him out of the camp ; but his presence appeared to give confidence to my 
men, and the interpreter thought it absolutely necessary. I was there- 
fore obliged to do what he requested, and pointed out the animal, with 
which he seemed satisfied, and we continued our journey. I had ima- 
gined that Mr. Bissonette's long residence had made him acquainted 
with the country, and, according to his advice, proceeded directly torward, 
without attempting to regain the usual road. He afterward informed me 
that he had rarely ever lost sight of the fort; but the effect of the mistake 
was to involve us for a day or two among the hills, where, although we 
lost no time, we encountered an exceedingly rough road. 

To the south, along our line of march to-day, the main chain of the 
Black or Laramie hills rises precipitously. Time did not permit me to 
visit them; but, from comparative information, the ridge is composed of 
the coarse sandstone or conglomerate hereafter described. It appears to 
enter the region of clouds, which are arrested in their course, and lie in 
masses along the summits. An inverted cone of black cloud (cumulus) 
rested during all the forenoon on the lofty peak of Laramie mountain, 
which I estimated to be about two thousand feet above the fort, or six 
thousa!id five hundred above the sea. We halted to noon on the Fourche 
./5m^/'e, so called from being timbered principally with the Hard aintre, 
(a species of poplar,) with which the valley of the little stream is tolerably 
well wooded, and which, with large expansive summits, grows to the 
height of sixty or seventy feet. 

The bed of the creek is sand and gravel, the water dispersed over the 
broad bed in several shallow streams. We found here, on the right bank, 
in the shade of the trees, a fine spring of very cold water. It will be re- 
marked that I do not mention, in this portion of the journey, the tempera- 
lure of the air, sand, springs, &.c. — an omission which will be explained in 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 49 

the course of the narrative. In my search for plants, I was well rewarded 
at this place. 

With the change in the geological formation on leaving Fort Laramie, 
the whole face of the country has entirely altered its appearance. East- 
ward of that meridian, the principal objects which strike the eye of a travel- 
ler are the absence of timber, and the immense expanse of prairie, covered 
with the verdure of rich grasses, and highly adapted for pasturage. Wher- 
ever they are not disturbed by the vicnjity of man, large herds of buffalo 
give animation to this country. Westward of Laramie river, the region is 
sandy, and apparently sterile ; and the place of the grass is usurped by the 
arlemisia and other odoriferous plants, to whose growth the sandy soil 
and dry air of this elevated region seem highly favorable. 

One of the prominent characteristics in the face of the country is the ex- 
traordinary abinidance of the artemisias. They grow every where — on 
the hills, and over the river bottoms, in tough, twisted, wiry clumps ; and, 
wherever the beaten track was left, they rendered the progress of the carts 
rough and slow. As the country increased in elevation on our advance 
to tlie west, they increased in size; and the whole air is strongly impreg- 
nated and saturated with the odor of camphor and spirits of turpentine 
which belongs to this plant. This climate has been found very favorable 
to the restoration of health, particularly in cases of consumption ; and pos- 
sibly the respiration of air so highly impregnated by aromatic plants may- 
have some influence. 

Our dried meat had given out, and we began to be in want of food ; but 
one of the hunters killed an antelope this evening, which afforded some 
relief, although it did not go far among so manv h'lngry men. At S o'clock 
at night, after a march of twenty-seven mile-, we reached our proposed en- 
campmeiU on the Fer-a-Chcval, or Horse-shoe creek. Here we found 
good grass, with a great quantity oi jn^ele, which furnished good food for 
our tired animals. This creek is well timbered, principally with Hard 
amers, and, with the exception of Deer creek, which we had not yet reach- 
ed, is the largest affluent of the right bank between Laramie and the 
mouth of the Sweet Water. 

Juii/ 23. — The present year had been one of unparalleled drought, and 
throughout the country the water had been almost dried up. By availing 
themselves of the annual rise, the traders had invariably succeeded ia 
carrying their furs to the Missouri ; but this season, as has already been 
mentioned, on both forks of the Platte they had entirely failed. The 
greater number of the springs, and many of the streams, which made 
halting places for the voi/ageurs, had been dried up. Every where the soil 
]ooked parched and burnt ; the scanty yellow grass crisped under the foot, 
and even the hardiest plants were destroyed by want of moisture. I think 
it necessary to mention this fact, because to the rapid evaporation in such 
an elevated region, nearly five thousand feet above the sea, almost wholly- 
unprotected by timber, should be attributed much of the sterile appearance 
of the country, in the destruction of vegetation, and the numerous saline 
efflorescences which covered the ground. Such I afterward found to be 
the case. 

I was informed that the roving villages of Indians and travellers had 

never met with difficulty in finding an abundance of grass for their horses ; 

and now it was after great search that we were able to find a scanty patch 

of grass, sufficient to keep them from sinking ; and in the course of a day 

4 



50 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

or two they began to suffer very much. We found none to-day at noon ; 
and, in the course of our search on the Platte, came to a grove of cotton- 
wood, where some Indian village had recently encamped. Boughs of the 
Cottonwood yet green covered the ground, which the Indians had cut 
down to feed their horses upon. It is only in the winter that recourse is 
had to this means of sustaining them ; and their resort to it at this time was 
a striking evidence of the siate of the country. We followed their example, 
and turned our horses into a grove of young poplars. This began to pre- 
sent itself as a very serious evil, for on our animals depended altogether 
the further prosecution of our journey. 

Shortly after we had left this place, the scouts came galloping in with 
the alarm of Indians. We turned in immediately toward the river, which 
here had a steep high bank, where we formed with the carts a very close 
barricade, resting on the river, within which the animals were strongly 
hobbled and picketed. The guns were discharged and reloaded, and men 
thrown forward, under cover of the bank, in the direction by which the 
Indians were expected. Our interpreter, who, wich the Indian, had gone 
to meet them, came in, in about ten minutes, accompanied by two Sioux. 
They looked sulky, and we could obtain from them only some confused 
information. We' learned that they belonged to the party which had been 
on the trail of the emigrants, whom they had overtaken at Rock Independ- 
ence, on the Sweet Water. Here the party had disagreed, and came nigh 
fio-htino- among themselves. One portion were desirous of attacking the 
whites, but the others were opposed to it ; and finally they had broken up 
into small bands, and dispersed over the country. The greater portion of 
them had gone over into the territory of the Crows, and intended to return 
by way of the Wind river valley, in the hope of being able to fall upon 
some small parties of Crow Indians. The remainder were returning down 
the Platte, in scattered parties often and twenty; and those whom we had 
encountered belonged to those who had advocated an attack on the emi- 
grants. Several of the m.en suggested shooting them on the spot; but I 
promptly discountenanced any such proceeding. They further informed 
me that buffalo were very scarce, and little or no grass to be found. There 
had been no rain, and innumerable quantities of grasshoppers had destroy- 
ed the grass. This insect had been so numerous since leaving Fort Lara- 
mie, that the ground seemed alive with them ; and in walking, a little 
moving cloud preceded our footsteps. This was bad news. No grass, no 
buffalo — food for neither horse nor man. I gave them some plugs of to- 
bacco, and they went off, apparently well satisfied to be clear of us ; for 
my men did not look upon them very lovingly, and they glanced suspi- 
ciously at our warlike preparations, and the little ring of rifles which sur- 
rounded them. They were evidently in a bad humor, and shot one of 
their horses when they had left us a short distance. 

We continued our march, and, after a journey of about twenty-one miles, 
encamped on the Platte. During the day, I had occasionally remarked 
among the hills the psoralea esculenta, the bread root of the Indians. The 
Sioux use this root very extensively, and I have frequently met with it 
among them, cut into thin slices and dried. In the course of the even- 
ing we were visited by six Indians, who told us that a larger party was en- 
camped a few miles above. Astronomical observations placed us in longi- 
tude 104° 59' 59", and latitude 42° 39' 25". 
We made the next day twenty-two miles, and encamped on the right 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONTS' NARRATIVE. 5l 

bank of the Platte, where a handsome meadow afforded tolerably good 
grass. There were the remains of an old fort here, thrown np in some 
sudden emergency, and on the opposite side was a picturesque bluff of 
ferruginous sandstone. There was a handsome grove a little above, and 
scattered groups of trees bordered the river. Buffalo made their appear- 
ance this afternoon, and the hunters came in, shortly after we had encamp- 
ed, with three tine cows. The night was fine, and observations gave for 
the latitude of the camp, 42° 47' 40". 

July 25. — We made but thirteen miles this day, and encamped about 
noon in a pleasant grove on the right bank. Low scaffolds were erected, 
upon which the meat was laid, cut up into thin strips, and small fires 
kindled below. Our object \vas to profit by the vicinity of the buffalo, to 
lay in a stock of provisions for ten or fifteen days. In the course of the 
afternoon the hunters brought in five or six cows, and all hands were 
kept busily employed in preparing the meat, to the drying of which the 
guard attended during the night. Our people had recovered their gayety, 
and the busy figures around the blazing fires gave a picturesque air to the 
camp. A very serious accident occurred this morning, in the breaking of 
one of the barometers. These had been the object of my constant solici- 
tude, and, as I had intended them principally for mountain service, I had 
used them as seldom .as possible ; taking them always down at night, and 
on the occurrence of storms, in order to lessen the chances of being broken. 
I was reduced to one, a standar(J barometer of Troughton's construction. 
This I determined to preserve, if possible. The latitude is 42° 51' 35", 
and by a mean of the results from chronometer and lunar distances, the 
adopted longitude of this camp is 105^ 50' 45". 

July 2G. — Early this morning we were again in motion. We had a 
stock of provisions for fifteen days carefully stored away in the carts, and 
this I resolved should only be encroached upon when our rifles should fail 
to procure us present support. I determined to reach the mountains, if it 
were in any way possible. In the mean time, buffalo were plenty. In six 
miles from our encampment, (which, by way of distinction, we shall call 
Dried Meat camp,) u^e crossed a handsome stream, called La Foiirche 
Boisee. It is well timbered, and, among the flowers in bloom on its banks, 
I remarked several asters. 

Five miles further, we made our noon halt, on the banks of the Platte, 
in the shade of some coitonwoods. There were here, as generally now 
along the river, thickets of hippophaae, the gi^ains de bceuf of the country. 
They were of two kinds — one bearing a red berry, (the shepherdia argen- 
iia of Nuttall ;} the other a yellow berry, of which the Tartars are said to 
make a kind of rob. 

By a meridian observation, the latitude of the place was 42° 50' 08". 
It was my daily practice to take observations of the sun's meridian altitude; 
and why they are not given, will appear in the sequel. Eight miles further 
we reached the mouth of Deer creek, where we encamped. Here was an 
abundance of rich grass, and our animals were compensated for past priva- 
tions. This stream was at this time twenty feet broad, and well timbered 
with Cottonwood of an uncommon size. It is the largest tributary of the 
Platte, between the mouth of the Sweet Water and the Laramie. Our as- 
tronomical observations gave for the mouth of the stream a longitude of 
106° OS' 24", and latitude 42° 52' 24". 

July 27. — Nothing worthy of mention occurred on this day ; we trav- 



52 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842 

elled later than usual, having spent some time in searching for grass, 
crossing and recrossing the river before we could find a sufficient quantity 
for our animals. Toward dusk, we encamped among some artemisia 
bushes, two and three feet in height, where some scattered patches of 
short tough grass afforded a scanty supply. In crossing, we had occasion 
to observe that the river was frequently too deep to be forded, though we 
always succeeded in finding a place where the water did not enter the 
carts. The stream continued very clear, with two or three hundred feet 
breadth of water, and the sandy bed and banks were frequently covered 
with large round pebbles. We had travelled this day twenty-seven miles. 
The main chain of the Black hills was here only about seven miles to 
the south, on the right bank of the river, rising abruptly to the height of 
eight and twelve hundred feet. Patches of green grass in the ravines on 
the steep sides marked the presence of springs, and the summits were clad 
with pines. 

July 28. — In two miles from our encampment, we reached the place 
where the regular road crosses the Platte. There was two hundred feet 
breadth of water at this time in the bed, which has a variable width of 
eight to fifteen hundred feet. The channels were generally three feet deep, 
and there were large angular rocks on the bottom, which made the ford in 
some places a little difficult. Even at its low stages, this river cannot be 
crossed at random, and this has always been used as the best ford. The 
low stage of the waters the present year had made itfordable in almost any 
part of its course, where access could be had to its bed. 

For the satisfaction of travellers, I will endeavor to give some descrip- 
tion of the nature of the road from Laramie to this point. The nature of 
the soil may be inferred from its geological formation. The limestone at 
the eastern limit of this section is succeeded by limestone without fossils, 
a great variety of sandstone, consisting principally of red sandstone and 
fine conglomerates. The red sandstone is argillaceous, with compact white 
gypsum or alabaster, very beautiful. The other sandstones are gray, yel- 
low, and ferruginous, sometimes very coarse. The apparent sterility of 
the country must therefore be sought for in other causes than the nature of 
the soil. The face of the country cannot with propriety be called hilly. It 
is a succession of long ridges, made by the numerous streams which come 
down from the neighboring mountain range. The ridges have an undu- 
lating surface, with some such appearance as the ocean presents in an or- 
dinary breeze. 

The road which is now generally followed through this region is there- 
fore a very good one, without any difficult ascents to overcome. The 
principal obstructions are near the river, where the transient waters of 
heavy rains have made deep ravines with steep banks, which renders fre- 
quent circuits necessary. It will be remembered that wagons pass this 
road only once or twice a year, which is by no means sufficient to break 
down the stubborn roots of the innumerable artemisia bushes. A partial 
absence of these is often the only indication of the track ; and the rough- 
ness produced by their roots in many places gives the road the character 
of one newly opened in a wooded country. This is usually considered the 
worst part of the road east of the mountains ; and, as it passes through an 
open prairie region, may be much improved, so as to avoid the greater part 
of the inequalities it now presents. 
From the mouth of the Kansas to the Green river valley, west of the 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 53 

Rocky mountains, there is no such thing as a mountain road on the hne of 
communication. 

We continued our way, and four miles beyond the ford Indians were 
discovered again ; and I halted while a party were sent forward to ascertain 
who they were. In a short time they returned, accompanied by a number 
of Indians of the Oglallah band of Sioux. From them we received some 
interesting information. They had formed part of the great village, which 
they informed us had broken up, and was on its way home. The greater 
part of the village, including the Arapahoes, Cheyennes, and Oglallahs, 
had crossed the Platte eight or ten miles below the mouth of the Sweet 
Water, and were now behind the mountains to the south of us, intending 
to regain the Platte by way of Deer creek. They had taken this unusual 
route in search of grass and game. They gave us a very discouraging 
picture of the country. The great drought, and the plague of grasshop- 
pers, had swept it so that scarce a blade of grass was to be seen, and 
there was not a butfalo to be found in the whole region. Their people, 
they further said, had been nearly starved to death, and we would find 
their road marked by lodges which they had thrown away in order to 
move more rapidly, and by the carcasses of the horses which they had eaten, 
or which had perished by starvation. Such was the prospect before us. 

When he had finished the interpretation of these things, Mr. Bissonette 
immediately rode up to me, and urgently advised that I should entirely 
abandon tlie further prosecution of my exploration. " Le meilleiire avis 
que je pour rain voiia donner c'est de virer de suite.'' " 'J'he best advice I 
can give you, is to turn back at once." It was his own intention to re- 
turn, as we had now reached the point to which he had engaged to attend 
me. In reply, I called up my men, and communicated to them fully the 
information I had just received. I then expressed to them my fixed de- 
termination to proceed to the end of the enterprise on which I had been 
sent ; but as the situation of the country gave me some reason to appre- 
hend that it might be attended with an unfortunate result to some of us, 
I would leave it optional with them to continue with me or to return. 

Among them were some five or six who I knew would remain. We 
had still ten days' provisions; and, should no game be found, when this 
stock was expended, we had our horses and mules, which we could eat 
when other means of subsistence failed. But not a man flinched from 
the undertaking. " We'll eat the mules," said liasil Lajeunesse ; and 
thereupon we shook hands with our interpreter and his Indians, and 
parted. With them I sent back one of my men, Durnes, whom the effects 
of an old wound in the leg rendered incapable of continuing the journey 
on foot, and his horse seemed on the point of giving out. Having re- 
solved to disencumber ourselves immediately of every thitig not abso- 
lutely necessary to our future operations, I turned directly in toward the 
river, and encamped on the left bank, a little above the place where our 
council had been held, and where a thick grove of willows otfered a suit- 
able spot for the object I had in view. 

The carts having been discharged, the covers and wheels were taken, 
off, and, with the frames, carried into some low places among the willows, 
and concealed in the dense foliage in such a manner that the glitter of the 
iron work might not attract the observation of some straggling Indian. 
In the sand, which had been blown up into waves among the willows, a 
large hole was then dug, ten feet square, and six deep. In the mean time, 



CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 



[184^, 



all our effects had been spread out upon the ground, and whatever was 
designed to be carried along with us separated and laid aside, and the re- 
maining part carried to the hole and carefully covered up. As much as 
possible, all traces of our proceedings were obliterated, and it wanted but 
a rain to render our cache safe beyond discovery. All the men were now 
set at work to arrange the pack saddles and make up the packs. 

The day was very wafm and calm, and the sky entirely clear, except 
where, as usual along the summits of the mountainous ridge opposite, the 
clouds had congregated in masses. Our lodge had been planted, and, on 
account of the heat, the ground pins had been taken out, and tiie lower 
part slightly raised. Near to it was standing the barometer, which swung 
in a tripod frame; and within the lodge, where a small fire liad been built, 
Mr. Preuss was occupied in observing the temperature of boiling water. 
At this instant, and without any warning until it was within fifty yards^^ 
a violent gust of wind dashed down the lodge, burying under it Mr. Preuss 
and about a dozen men, who had attempted to keep it from being carried 
away. I succeeded in saving the barometer, which the lodge was carry- 
ing off with itself, but the thermometer was broken. We had no others 
of a high graduation, none of those which remained going higher than 
135° Fahrenheit. Our astronomical observations gave to this place, which 
we named Cache camp, a longitude of 106° 3S' 26", latitude 42* 50' 53". 
July 29. — All our arrangements having been completed, we left the en- 
campment at 7 o'clock this morning. In this vicinity the ordinary road 
leaves the Platte, and crosses over to the Sweet Water river, which it 
strikes near Rock Independence. Instead of following this road, I had 
determined to keep the immediate valley of the Platte so far as the mouth 
of the Sweet Water, in the expectation of finding better grass. To this I 
was further prompted by the nature of my instructions. To Mr. Carson 
was assigned the office of guide, as we had now reached a part of the 
country with which, or a great part of which, long residence had made 
him familiar. In a few miles we reached the Red Buttes, a famous land- 
mark in this country, whose geological composition is red sandstone, lime- 
stone, and calcareous sandstone and pudding stone. 

The river here cuts its way through a ridge ; on the eastern side of it 
are the lofty escarpments of red argillaceous sandstone, which are called 
the Red Buttes. In this passage the stream is not much compressed or 
pent up, there being a bank of considerable though variable breadth on 
either side. Immediately on entering, we discovered a band of buffalo. 
The hunters failed to kill any of them; the leading hunter being thrown 
into a ravine, which occasioned some delay, and in the mean time the 
herd clambered up the steep face of the ridge. It is sometimes wonderful 
to see these apparently clumsy animals make their way up and down the 
most rugged and broken precipices. We halted to noon before we had 
cleared this passage, at a spot twelve miles distant from CV/cAecamp, where 
we found an abundance of grass. So far, the account of the Indians was 
found to be false. On the banks were willow and cherry trees. The 
cherries were not yet ripe, but in the thickets were numerous fresh tracks 
o{ the grizzly bear, which are very fond of this fruit. The soil here is 
red, the composition being derived from the red sandstone. About seven 
miles brought us through the ridge, in which the course of the river is north 
and south. Here the valley opens out broadly, and high walls of the red 
formation present themselves among the hills to the east. We crossed 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 55 

here a pretty little creek, an affluent of the right bank. It is well timber- 
ed with Cottonwood in this vicinity, and the absinthe has lost its shiub- 
like character, and beeomes small trees six and eight feet in height, and 
sometimes eight inches in diameter. Two or three miles above this creek 
we made our encampment, having travelled to-day twenty-five miles. 
Our animals fared well here, as there is an abundance of grass. The river 
bed is made up of pebbles, and in the bank, at the level of the water, is a 
conglomerate of coarse pebbles about the size of ostrich eggs, and which 
I remarked in the banks of the Laramie fork. It is overlaid by a soil of 
mixed clay and sand, six feet thick. By astronomical observations, our 
position is in longitude 106° 54' 32", and latitude 42° 38'. 

July 30. — After travelling about twelve miles this morning, we reached 
a place where the Indian village had crossed the river. Here were the 
poles of discarded lodges and skeletons of horses lying about, JSlr. Carson, 
who had never been higher up than this point on the rivef, which has the 
character of being exceedingly rugged, and walled in by precipices above, 
thought it advisable to camp near this place, where we were certain of ob- 
taining grass, and to-morrow make our crossing among the rugged hills to 
the Sweet Water river. Accordingly we turned back and descended the 
river to an island near by, which was about twenty acres in size, covered 
with a luxuriant growth of grass. The formation here 1 found highly 
interesting. Immediately at this island the river is again shut up in the 
rugged hills, which come down to it from the main ridge in a succession 
of spurs three or four hundred feet high, and alternated with green level 
prairillons or meadows, bordered on the river banks with thickets of wil- 
low, and having many plants to interest the traveller. The island lies be- 
tween two of these ridges, three or four hundred yards apart, of which 
that on the right bank is composed entirely of red argillaceous sandstone, 
with thin layers of fibrous gypsiun. On the left bank, the ridge is com- 
posed entirely of siliceous pudding stone, the pebbles in the numerous 
strata increasing in size from the top to the bottom, where they are as 
large as a man's head. So far as I was able to determine, these strata in- 
cline to the northeast, with a dip of about 15°. This pudding stone, or 
conglomerate formation, I was enabled to trace through an extended range 
of country, from a few miles east of the meridian of Fort Laramie to where 
I found it superposed on the granite of the Rocky mountains, in longitude 
10§° 00'. From its appearance, the main chain of the Laramie mountain 
is composed of this rock; and in a number of places I found isolated hills, 
which served to mark a former level, which had been probably swept 
away. 

These conglomerates are very friable, and easily decomposed ; and I 
am inclined to think this formation is the source from which was derived 
the great deposite of sand and gravel which forms the surface rock of the 
prairie country west of the Mississippi. 

Crossing the ridge of red sandstone, and traversing the little prairie which 
lies to the southward of it, we made in the afternoon an excursion to a place 
which we have called the Hot Spring Gate. This place has nmch the ap- 
pearance of a gate, by which the Platte passes through a ridge composed 
of a white and calcareous sandstone. The length of the passage is about 
four hundred yards, with a smooth green prairie on either side. Through 
this place, the stream flows with a quiet current, unbroken by any rapid, 
and is about seventy yards wide between the walls, which rise perpen- 



56 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

dicularly from the water. To that on the right bank, which is the lower, 
the barometer gave a height of three hundred and sixty feet. This place 
will be more particularly described hereafter, as we passed through it on 
our return. 

We saw here numerous herds of mountain sheep, and frequently heard 
the volley of ratthng stones which accompanied their rapid descent down 
the steep hills. This was the first place at which we had killed any of 
these animals ; and, in consequence of this circumstance, and of the 
abundance of these sheep or goats, (for they are called by each name,) we 
gave to our encampment the name of Goat Island. Their fiesh is much 
esteemed by the hunters, and has very much the llavor of the Allegany 
mountain sheep. I have frequently seen the horns of this animal three 
feet long and seventeen inches in circumference at the base, weighing 
eleven pounds. But two or three of these were killed by our party at 
this place, and of these the horns were small. The use of these horns 
seems to be to protect the animal's head in pitching down precipices to 
avoid pursuing wolves — their only safety being in places where they can- 
not be followed. The bones are very strong and solid, the marrow occu- 
pying but a very small portion of the bone in the leg, about the thickness 
of a rye straw. The hair is short, resembling the winter color of our com- 
mon deer, which it nearly approaches in size and appearance. Except in 
the horns, it has no resemblance whatever to the goat. The longitude of 
this place, resulting from chronometer and lunar distances, and an occulta- 
tion off Arietis, is 107° 13' 29", and the latitude 42° 33' 27". One of our 
horses, which had given out, we left to receive strength on the island, intend- 
ing to take her, perhaps, on our return. 

July 31. — This morning we left the course of the Platte, to cross over 
to the Sweet Water. Our way, for a few miles, lay up the sandy bed of 
a dry creek, in which I found several interesting plants. Leaving this, we 
wound our way to the summit of the hills, of which the peaks are here 
eight hundred feet above the Platte, bare and rocky. A long and gradual 
slope led from these hills ..o the Sweet Water, which we reached in fifteen 
miles from Goat Island. I made an early encampment here, in order to 
give the hunters an opportunity to procure a supply from several bands of 
buffalo, which made their appearance in the valley near by. The stream 
here is about sixty feet wide, and at this time twelve to eighteen inches 
deep, with a very moderate current. 

The adjoining prairies are sandy, but the immediate river bottom is a 
good soil, which afforded an abundance of soft green grass to our horses, 
and where I found a variety of interesting plants, which made their ap- 
pearance for the first time. A rain to-night made it unpleasantly cold ; 
and there was no tree here, to enable us to pitch our single tent, the poles 
of which had been left at Cache camp. W^c had, thei'efore, no shelter 
except what was to be found under cover of the absinthe bushes, which 
grew in many thick patches, one or two and sometimes three feet 
high. 

August 1. — The hunters went ahead this morning, as buffalo appeared 
tolerably abimdant, and I was desirous to secure a small stock of pro- 
visions; and we moved about seven miles up the valley, and encamped 
one mile below Rock Independence. This is an isolated granite rock, 
about six hundred and fifty yards long, and forty in height. Except in 
a depression of the summit, where a little soil supports a scanty growth 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 57 

of shrubs, with a solitary dwarf pine, it is entirely bare. Every where 
within six or eight feet of the ground, where the surface is sufficieiitly 
smooth, and in some places sixty or eighty feet above, the rock is inscribed 
with the names of travellers. Many a name famous in the history of this 
country, and some well known to science, are to be. found mixed among 
those of the traders and of travellers for pleasure and curiosity, and of mis- 
sionaries among the savages. Some of these have been washed away by 
the rain, but the greater number are still very legible. The position of 
this rock is in longitude 107° 56', latitude 42° 29' 36". We remained at 
our camp of August 1st until noon of the next day, occupied in drying 
meat. By observation, the longitude of the place is 107° 25' 23", latitude 
42° 29' 56". 

Aus^ust 2. — Five miles above Rock Independence we came to a place 
called the Devil's Gate, where the Sweet Water cuts through the point of 
a granite ridge. The length of the passage is about three hundred yards, 
and the width thirty-five yards. The walls of rock are vertical, and about 
four hundred feet in height; and the stream in the gate is almost entirely 
choked up by mavsses which have fallen from above. In the wall, on the 
right bank, is a dike of trap rock, cutting through a fine-grained gray gran- 
ite. Near the point of this ridge crop out some strata of the valley forma- 
tion, consisiing of a grayish micaceous sandstone, and fine-grained con- 
glomerate, and marl. We encamped eight miles above the Devil's Gate. 
There was no timber of any kind on the river, but good fires were made 
of drift wood, aided by the bois de vache. 

We had to-night no shelter from the rain, which conimenced with 
squalls of wind about sunset. The country here is exceedingly pic- 
turesque. On either side of the valley, which is four or five miles broad, 
the mountains rise to the height of twelve and fifteen hundred or two 
thousand feet. On the south side, the range appears to be timbered, and 
to-night is luminous with fires — probably the work of the Indians, who 
have just passed through the valley. 6n the north, broken and granite 
masses rise abruptly from the green sward of the river, terminating in a 
line of broken summits. Except in the crevices of the rock, and here 
and there on a ledge or bench of the mountain, where a few hardy pines 
have clustered together, these are perfectly bare and destitute of vege- 
tation. 

Among these masses, where there are sometimes isolated hills and 
ridges, green valleys open in upon the river, which sweeps the base of 
these mountains for thirty-six miles. Every where its deep verduie and 
profusion of beautiful flowers is in pleasing contrast with the sterile 
grandeur of the rock and the barrenness of the sandy plain, which, from 
the right bank of the river, sweeps up to the mountain range that forms 
its southern boundary. The great evaporation on the sandy soil of this 
elevated plain, and the saline eliiorescences which whiten the ground, 
and shine like lakes reflecting the sun, make a soil wholly unfit for culti- 
vation. 

*jiugust 3. — We were early on the road the next morning, travelling 
along the upland part of the valley, which is overgrown with artemisia. 
Scattered about on the plain are occasional small isolated hills. One of 
these which I examined, about fifty feet high, consisted of white clay and 
marl, in nearly horizontal strata. Several bands of buftalo made their ap- 



58 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

pearance to-day, with herds of antelope ; and a grizzly bear — the only one 
we encountered during the journey — was seen scrambling up among the 
rocks. As we passed over a slight rise near the river, we caught the first 
view of the Wind river mountains, appearing, at this distance of about 
seventy miles, to be a low and dark mountainous ridge. The view dissipat- 
ed in a moment the pictures which had been created in our minds, by many 
descriptions of travellers, who have compared these mountains to the Alps 
in Switzerland, and speak of the glittering peaks which rise in icy majesty 
amidst the eternal glaciers nine or ten thousand feet into the region of eter- 
nal snows. The nakedness of the river was relieved by groves of willows, 
where we encamped at night, after a march of twenty-six miles ; and nu- 
merous bright-colored flowers had made the river bottom look gay as a 
garden. We found here a horse, which had been abandoned by the In- 
dians, because his hoofs had been so much worn that he was unable to 
travel; and, during the night, a dog came into the camp. 

August 4. — Our camp was at the foot of the granite mountains, which 
we climbed this morning to take some barometrical heights; and here 
among the rocks was seen the first magpie. On our return, we saw one 
at the mouth of the Platte river. We left here one of our horses, which 
was unable to proceed farther. A few miles from the encampment we left 
the river, which makes a bend to the south, and, traversing an undulating 
country, consisting of a grayish micaceous sandstone and fine-grained con- 
glomerates, struck it again, and encamped, after a journey of twenty-five 
miles. Astronomical observations placed us in latitude 42° 32' 30", and 
longitude 108° 30' 13". 

- »/iugnst 5. — The morning was dark, with a driving rain, and disagree- 
ably cold. We continued our route as usual ; but the weather became so 
bad, that we were glad to avail ourselves of the shelter offered by a small 
island, about ten miles above our last encampment, which was covered 
with a dense growth of willows. There was fine grass for our animals, 
and the timber afforded us comfortable protection and good fires. In the 
afternoon, the sun broke through the clouds for a short time, and the ba- 
rometer at 5, p. m., was at 23.713, the thermometer 60°, with the wind 
strong from the northwest. We availed ourselves of the fine weather to 
make excursions in the neighborhood. The river, at this place, is border- 
ed by hills of the valley formation. They are of moderate height ; one of 
the highest peaks on the right bank being, according to the barometer, one 
hundred and eighty feet above the river. On the left bank they are higher. 
They consist of a fine white clayey sandstone, a white calcareous sandstone, 
and coarse sandstone or pudding stone. 

August 6. — It continued steadily raining all the day ; but, notwithstand- 
ing, we left our encampment in the afternoon. Our animals had been 
much refreshed by their repose, and an abundance of rich, soft grass, which 
had been much improved by the rains. In about three miles, we reached 
the entrance of a kanyon, where the Sweet Water issues upon the more 
open valley we had passed over. Immediately at the entrance, and super- 
imposed directly upon the granite, are strata of compact calcareous sand- 
stone and chert, alternating with fine white and reddish white, and fine 
gray and red sandstones. These strata dip to the eastward at an angle of 
about 18°, and form the western limit of the sandstone and limestone forma- 
tions on the line of our route. Here we entered among the primitive 
rocks. The usual road passes to the right of this place ; but we wound, 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 59 

or rather scrambled, our way up the narrow valley for several hours. 
Wildness and disorder were the character of this scenery. The river had 
been swollen by the late rains, and came rushing through with an impetuous 
current, three or four feet deep, and generally twenty yards broad. The 
valley was sometimes the breadth of the stream, and sometimes opened 
into little green meadows, sixty yards wide, with open groves of aspen. 
The stream was bordered throughout with aspen, beech, and willow ; and 
tall pines grew on the sides and summits of the crags. On both sides, the 
granite rocks rose precipitously to the height of three hundred and five 
hundred feet, terminating in jagged and broken pointed peaks ; and frag- 
ments of fallen rock lay piled up at the foot of the precipices. Gneiss, 
mica slate, and a white granite, were among the varieties I noticed. Here 
were many old traces of beaver on the stream ; remnants of dams, near 
which were lying trees, which they had cut down, one and two feet in 
diameter. The hills entirely shut up the river at the end of about five 
miles, and we turned up a ravine that led to a high prairie, which seemed to 
be the general level of the country. Hence, to the summit of the ridge, 
there is a regular and very gradual rise. Blocks of granite were piled up 
at the heads of the ravines, and small bare knolls of mica slate and milky 
quartz protruded at frequent intervals on the prairie, which was whitened 
in occasional spots with small salt lakes, where the water had evaporated, 
and left the bed covered with a shining incrustation of salt. The evening 
was very cold, a northwest wind driving a fine rain in our faces ; and at 
nightfall we descended to a little stream, on which we encamped, about 
two miles from the Sweet Water. Here had recently been a very large 
camp of Snake and Crow Indians ; and some large poles lying about af- 
forded the means of pitching a tent, and making other places of shelter. 
Our fires to-night were made principally of the dry branches of the arte- 
misia, which covered the slopes. It burns quickly, with a clear oily flame, 
and makes a hot fire. The liills here are composed of hard, compact mica 
slate, with veins of quartz. 

x^ugust 7. — We left our encampment with the rising sun. As we rose 
from the bed of the creek, the snowMvie of the mountains stretched grandly 
before us, the white peaks glittering in the sun. They had been hidden 
in the dark weather of the last few days, and it had been snowing on them, 
while it rained in the plains. We crossed a ridge, and again struck the 
Sweet Water — here a beautiful, swift stream, with a more open valley, 
timbered with beech and cottonwood. It now began to lose itself in the 
many small forks which make its head ; and we continued up the main 
stream until near noon, when we left it a few miles, to make our noon halt 
on a small creek among the hills, from which the stream issues by a small 
opening. Within was a beautiful grassy spot, covered with an open grove 
of large beech trees, among which I found several plants that I had not 
previonsly seen. 

The afternoon was cloudy, with squalls of rain ; but the weather be- 
came fine at sunset, when we again encamped on the Sweet Water, with- 
in a few miles of the South Pass. The country over which we have 
passed to-day consists principally of the compact mica slate, which crops 
out on all the ridges, making the uplands very rocky and slaty. In the 
escarpments which border the creeks, it is seen alternating with a light- 
colored granite, at an inclination of 45°; the beds varying in thickness 
from two or three feet to six or eight hundred. At a distance, the granite 



60 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

frequently has the appearance of irregular lumps of clay, hardened by ex- 
posure. A variety of astern may now be numbered amoug the character- 
istic plants, and the artemisia continues in full glory ; but cacti have be- 
come rare, and mosses begin to dispute the hills with them. The evening 
was damp and unpleasant; the thermometer, at 10 o'clock, being at 36°, 
and the grass wet with a heavy dew. Our astronomical observations placed 
this encamptment in longitude 109^21' 32", and latitude 42° 27' 15". 

Early in the morning we resumed our journey, the weather still cloudy, 
with occasional rain. Our general course was west, as I had determined 
to cross the dividing ridge by a bridle path among the broken country 
more immediately at the foot of the mountains, and return by the wagon 
road, two and a half miles to the south of the point where the trail crosses. 

About six miles from our encampment brought us to the summit. The 
ascent had been so gradual, that, with all the intimate knowledge pos- 
sessed by Carson, who had made this country his home for seventeen 
years, we were obliged to watch very closely to find the place at which 
we had reached the culminating point. This was between two low hills, 
rising on either hand fifty or sixty feet. When I looked back at them, 
from the foot of the immediate slope on the western plain, their summits 
appeared to be about one hundred and twenty feet above. From the im- 
pression on my mind at this time, and subsequently on our return, I should 
compare the elevation which we surmounted immediately at the Pass, to 
the ascent of the Capitol hill from the avenue, at Washington. It is diffi- 
cult for me to fix positively the breadth of this pass. From the broken 
ground where it commences, at the foot of the Wind river chain, the view 
to the southeast is over a champaign country, broken, at the distance of 
nineteen miles, by the Table rock; which, with the other isolated hills 
in its vicinity, seems to stand on a comparative plain. This I judged to 
be its termination, the ridge recovering its rugged character with the Table 
rock. It will be seen that it in no manner resembles the places to which 
the term is commonly applied — nothing of the gorge-like character and 
winding ascents of the Allegheny passes in America : nothing of the Great 
St. Bernard and Simplon passes in Europe. Approaching it from the 
mouth of the Sweet Water, a sandy plain, one hundred and twenty miles 
long, conducts, by a gradual and regular ascent, to the summit, about 
seven thousand feet above the sea; and the traveller, without being re- 
minded of any change by toilsome ascents, suddenly finds himself on the 
waters which flow to the Pacific ocean. By the route we had travelled, 
the distance from Fort Laramie is three hundred and twenty miles, or nine 
hundred and fifty from the mouth of the Kansas. 

Continuing our march, we reached, in eight miles from the Pass, the 
Little Sandy, one of the tributaries of the Colorado, or Green river of the 
Gulf of California. The weather had grown fine during the morning, and 
we remained here the rest of the day, to dry our baggage and take some 
astronomical observations. The stream was about forty feet wide, and 
two or three deep, with clear V\'ater and a full swift current, over a sandy 
bed. It was timbered with a growth of low bushy and dense willows, 
among which were little verdant spots, which gave our animals fine grass, 
and where I found a number of interesting plants. Among the neighbor- 
ing hills I noticed fragments of granite containing magnetic iron. Longi- 
tude of the camp was 109° 37' 59", and latitude 42° 27' 34". 

jiugust 9. — We made our noon halt today on Big Sandy, another 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 61 

tributary of Green river. The face of the country traversed was of a brown 
sand of granite materials, the detritus of the neighboring mountains. 
Strata of the milky quartz cropped out, and blocks of granite were scat- 
tered about, containing magnetic iron. On Sandy creek the formation was 
of parti-colored sand, exhibited in escarpments fifty to eighty feet high. In 
the afternoon we had a severe storm of hail, and encamped at sunset on 
the first New Fork. Within the space of a few miles, the Wind moun- 
tains supply a number of tributaries to Green river, which are all called the 
New Forks. Near our camp were two remarkable isolated hills, one of 
them sufficiently large to merit the name of mountain. They are called 
the Two Buttes, and will serve to identify the place of our encampment, 
which the observations of the evening placed in longitude 109° 58' 11", 
and latitude 42° 42' 4G". On the right bank of the stream, opposite to the 
large hill, the strata which are displayed consist of decomposing granite, 
which supplies the brown sand of which the face of the country is com- 
posed to a considerable depth. / 

August 10. — The air at sunrise is clear and pure, and the morning ex- 
tremely cold, but beautiful. A lofty snow peak of the mountain is glitter- 
ing in the first rays of the sun, which has not yet reached us. The long 
mountain wall to the east, rising two thousand feet abruptly from the 
plain, behind which we see the peaks, is still dark, and cuts clear against . 
the glowing sky. A fog, just risen from the river, lies along the base of 
the mountain. A little before sunrise, the thermometer was at 35°, and at 
sunrise 33°. Water froze last night, and fires are very comfortable. The 
scenery becomes hourly more interesting and grand, and the view here is 
truly magnificent; but, indeed, it needs something to repay the long prai- 
rie journey of a tliousand miles. The sun has just shot above the wall, 
and makes a magical change. The whole valley is glowing and bright, 
and all the mountain peaks are gleaming like silver. Though these snow 
mountains are not the Alps, they have their own character of grandeur 
and magnificence, and will doubtless find pens and pencils to do them 
justice. In the scene before us, we feel how much wood improves a view. 
The pines on the mountain seemed to give it much additional beauty. I 
was agreeably disappointed in the character of the streams on this side of 
the ridge. Instead of the creeks, which description had led me to expect, 
I find bold, broad streams, with three or four feet water, and a rapid cur- 
rent. The fork on which we are encamped is upwards of a hundred feet 
wide, timbered with groves or thickets of the low willow. We were now 
approaching the loftiest part of the Wind river chain ; and I left the val- 
ley a few miles from our encampment, intending to penetrate the moun- 
tains as far as possible with the whole party. We were soon involved in 
very broken groimd, among long ridges covered with fragments of granite. 
Winding our way up a long ravine, we came unexpectedly in view of a 
most beautiful lake, set like a gem in the mountains. The sheet of water 
lay transversely across the direction we had been pursuing ; and, descend- 
ing the steep, rocky ridge, where it was necessary to lead our horses, we 
followed its banks to the southern extremity. Here a view of the utmost 
magnificence and grandeur burst upon our eyes. With nothing between 
us and their feet to lessen the effect of the whole height, a grand bed of 
snow-capped mountains rose before us, pile upon pile, glowing in the 
bright light of an August day. Immediately below them lay the lake, 
between two ridges, covered with dark pines, which swept down from 



^g CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

the main chain to the spot where we stood. Here, where the lake ghttered 
in the open sunhght, its banks of yellow sand and the liglit foliage of aspen 
groves contrasted well with the gloomy pines. " Never before," said 
Mr. Preuss, "in this country or in Europe, have I seen such magnificent, 
grand rocks." I was so much pleased with the beauty of the place, that 
I determined to make the main camp here, where our animals would find 
good pasturage, and explore the monntains with a small party of men. 
Proceeding a little further, we came suddenly upon the outlet of the lake, 
where it found its way through a narrow passage between low hills. Dark 
pines, which overhung the stream, and masses of rock, where the water 
foamc^ along, gave it much romantic beauty. Where we crossed, which 
was immediately at the outlet, it is two hundred and fifty feet v/ide, and 
so deep, that with difficulty we were able to ford it. Its bed was an ac- 
cunmlation of rocks, boulders, and broad slabs, and large angular frag- 
ments, among which the animals fell repeatedly. 

The current was very swift, and the water cold, and of a crystal purity. 
In crossing this stream, I met with a great misfortune in having my ba- 
rometer broken. It was the only one. A great part of the interest of the 
journey for me was in the exploration of ttiese mountains, of which so 
much had been said that was doubtful and contradictory; and now their 
snowy peaks rose majestically before me, and the only means of giving 
them authentically to science, the object of my anxious solicitude by 
night and day, was destroyed. We had brought this barometer in safety 
a thousand miles, and broke it almost among the snow of the mountains. 
The loss was felt by the whole camp — all had seen my anxiety, and aided 
me in preserving it. The height of these mountains, considered by the 
hunters and traders the highest in the whole range, had been a theme of 
constant discussion among them ; and all had looked forward with pleas- 
ure to the mometit when the instrument, which they believed to be true 
as the sun, should stand upon the summits, and decide their disputes. 
Their grief was only inferior to my own. 

This lake is about three irhles long, and of very irregular width, and 
apparently great deptli. and is the head water of the third New Fork, 
a tributary to Green river, the Colorado of the west. In the narra- 
tive, I have called it Mountain lake. I encamped on the north side, 
about three hmidred and fifty yards from the outlet. This was the most 
western point at which I obtained astronomical observations, by which 
this place, called Bernier's encampment, is made in 110° OS' 03" west lon- 
gitude from Greenwich, and latitude 43° 49' 49". The mountain peaks, 
as laid down, were fixed by bearings from this and other astronomical 
points. We had no other compass than the small ones used in sketching 
the country; but from an azimuth, in which one of them was used, the 
variation of the compass is 18° east. The correction made in our field 
work by the astronomical observations indicates that this is a very correct 
observation. 

As soon as the camp was formed, I set about endeavoring to repair my 
barometer. As I have already said, this was a standard cistern barometer, 
of Troughton's construction. The glass cistern had been broken about 
midway ; but as the instrument had been kept in a proper position, no air 
had found its way into the tube, the end of which had always remained 
covered. I had with me a number of vials of tolerably thick glass, some 
of which were of the same diameter as the cistern, and I spent the day in 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 63 

slowly working oa these, endeavoring to cut them of the requisite length ; 
but, as my instrument was a very rough file, I invariably broke them. A 
groove was cut in one of the trees, where the barometer was placed during 
the night, to be out of the way of any possible danger, and in the morning 
I commenced again. Among the powder horns m the camp, I found one 
which was very transparent, so that its contents could be almost as plainly 
seen as through glass. This I boiled and stretched on a piece of wood to 
the requisite diameter, and scraped it very thin, in order to increase to the 
utmost its transparency. I then secured it firmly in its place on the instru- 
ment, with strong glue made from a bufialo, and filled it with mercury, 
properly heated. A piece of skin, which had covered one of the vials, 
furnished a good pocket, which was well secured with strong thread and 
glue, and then the brass cover was screwed to its place. The instrument 
was left some time to dry ; and when I reversed it, a few hours after, I had 
the satisfaction to find it in perfect order ; its indications being about the 
same as on the other side of the lake before it had been broken. Our suc- 
cess in this little incident diffused pleasure throughout the camp ; and we 
immediately set about our preparations for ascending the mountains. 

As will be seen on reference to a map, on this short mountain chain 
are the head waters of four great rivers of the continent; namely, the Col- 
orado, Columbia, Missouri, and Platte rivers. It had been my design, af- 
ter having ascended the mountains, to continue our route on the western 
side of the range, and crossing througli a pass at the northwestern end of 
the chain, about thirty miles from our present camp, return along the 
eastern slope, across the heads of the Yellowstone river, and join on the 
line to our station of August 7, immediately at the foot of the ridge. In 
this way, I should be enabled to include the whole chain, and its nume- 
rous waters, in my survey ; but various considerations induced ^e. very 
reluctantly, to abandon this plan. 

I was desirous to keep strictly within the scope of my instructions ; and it 
wonld have required ten or fifteen additional days lor the accomplishment 
of this object ; our animals had become very much worn out v>^ith the length 
of the jouruey ; game was very scarce; and, though it does not appear in 
the course of the narative, (as I have avoided dwelling upon trifling inci- 
dents not connected with the objects of the expedition,) the spirits of the 
men had been much exhausted by the hardships'and privations to which 
they had been subjected. Our provisions had wellnigh all disappeared. 
Bread had been long out of the question ; and of all our stock, we had re- 
maining two or three pounds of cofl'ee. and a small quantity of maccaroni, 
which had been husbanded with great care for the mountain expedition 
we were about to undertake. Our daily meal consisted of dry buffalo 
meat, cooked in tallow ; and, as we had not dried this with Indian skill, 
part of it was spoiled; and what remained of good, was as hard as wood, 
having much the taste and appearance of so many pieces of bark. Even 
of this, our stock was rapidly diminishing in a camp which was capable 
of consuming two buffaloes in every twenty-four hours. These animals 
had entirely disappeared ; and it was not probable that we should fall in 
with them again until we returned to the Sweet Water. 

Our arrangements for the ascent were rapidly completed. We were in 
a hostile country, which rendered the greatest vigilance and circumspec- 
tion necessary. The pass at the north end of the mountain was generally 
infested by Blackfeet ; and immediately opposite was one of their forts, on 



64 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. ' [1842. 

ihe edge of a little thicket, two or three hundred feet from our encamp- 
ment. We were posted in a grove of beech, on the margin of the lake, 
and a few hundred feet long, with a narrow prairillon on the inner side, 
bordered by the rocky ridge. In the upper end of this grove we cleared a 
circular space about forty feet in diameter, and, with the felled timber and 
interwoven branches, surrounded it with a breastwork five feet in height. 
A gap was left for a gate on the inner side, by which the animals were 
to be driven in and secured, while the men slept around the little work. 
It was half hidden by the foliage; and, garrisoned by twelve resolute 
men, would have set at defiance any band of savages which might chance 
to discover them in the interval of our absence. Fifteen of the best 
mules, with fourteen men, were selected for the mountain party. Our pro- 
visions consisted of dried meat for two days, with our little stock of coffee 
and some maccaroni. In addition to the barometer and a thermometer, I 
took with me a sextant and spy glass, and we had of course our compasses. 
In charge of the camp I left liernier, one of my most trustworthy men, 
who possessed the most determined courage. 

August 12. — Early in the morning we left the camp, fifteen in number, 
well armed, of course, and mounted on our best mules. A pack animal 
carried our provisions, with a coffee pot and kettle, and three or four tin 
cups. Every man had a blanket strapped over his saddle, to serve for his 
bed, and the instruments were carried by turns on their backs. We en- 
tered directly on rough and rocky ground ; and, just after crossing the 
ridge, had the good fortune to shoot an antelope. We heard the roar, and 
had a glimpse of a waterfall as we rode along ; and, crossing in our way 
two fine streams, tributary to the Colorado, in about two hours' ride we 
reached the top of the first row or range of the mountains. Here, again, 
a view of the most romantic beauty met our eyes. It seemed as if, from 
the vast expanse of uninteresting prairie we had passed over. Nature had 
collected all her beauties together in one chosen place. We were over- 
looking a deep valley, which was entirely occupied by three lakes, and 
from the brink the surrounding ridges rose precipitously five hundred and 
a thousand feet, covered with the dark green of the balsam pine, relieved 
on the border of the lake with the light foliage of the aspen. They all 
communicated with each other; and the green of the waters, common to 
mountain lakes of great depth, showed that it would be impossible to 
cross them. The surprise manifested by our guides when these impassable 
obstacles suddenly barred our progress proved that they were among the 
hidden treasures of the place, unknown even to the wandering trappers of 
the region. Descending the hill, we proceeded to make our way along 
the margin to the southern extremity. A narrow strip of angular frag- 
ments of rock sometimes afforded a rough pathway for our mules, but 
generally we rode along the shelving side, occasionally scrambling up, at a 
considerable risk of tumbling back into the lake. 

The slope was frequently 60°; the pines grew densely together, and 
the ground was covered with the branches and trunks of trees. The air 
was fragrant with the odor of the pines ; and I realized this delightful 
morning the pleasure of breathing that mountain air which makes a con- 
stant theme of the hunter's praise, and which now made us feel as if we 
had all been drinking some exhilarating gas. The depths of this unex- 
plored forest were a place to delight the heart of a botanist. There was 
a rich undergrowth of plants, and numerous gay-colored flowers in bril- 



1S42.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 65 

liaiit bloom. We reached the outlet at length, where some freshly barked 
willows that lay in the water showed that beaver had been recently at work. 
There were some small brown squirrels jumping about in the pines, and a 
couple of large mallard ducks swimming about in the stream. 

The hills on this southern end were low, and the lake looked like a 
mimic sea, as the waves broke on the sandy beach in the force of a strong 
breeze. There was a pretty open spot, with fine grass for our mules; and 
we made our noon halt on the beach, under the shade of some large hem- 
locks. We resumed our journey after a halt of about an hour, making our 
way up the ridge on the western side of the lake. In search of smoother 
ground, we rode a little inland; and, passing through groves of aspen, soon 
found ourselves again among the pines. Emerging from these, we struck 
the summit of the ridge above the upper end of the lake. 

We had reached a very elevated point ; and in the valley below, and 
among the hills, were a number of lakes at different levels ; some two or 
three hundred feet above others, with which they communicated by foam- 
ing torrents. Even to our great height, the roar of the cataracts came up, 
and we could see them leaping down in lines of snowy foam. From this 
scene of busy waters, we turned abruptly into the stillness of a forest, 
where we rode among the open bolls of the pines, over a lawn of verdant 
grass, having strikingly the air of cultivated grounds. This led us, after 
a time, among masses of rock which had no vegetable earth but in hoi ows 
and crevices, though still the pine forest continued. Toward evening, we 
reached a defile, or rather a hole in the mountains, entirely shut in by dark 
pine-covered rocks. 

A small stream, with a scarcely perceptible current, flowed through a 
level bottom of perhaps eighty yards width, where tlie grass was saturated 
with water. Into this the mules were turned, and were neither hobbled 
nor picketed during the night, as the fine pasturage took away all tempta- 
tion to stray ; and we made our bivouac in the pines. The surrounding 
masses were all of granite. While supper was being prepared, 1 set out 
on an excursion in the neighborhood, accompanied by one of my men. 
We wandered about among the crags and ravines until dark, richly repaid 
for our walk by a fine collection of plants, many of them in full bloom. 
Ascending a peak to find the place of our camp, we saw that the little 
defile in which we lay communicated with the long green valley of some 
stream, which, here locked up in the mountains, far away to the south, 
found its way in a dense forest to the plains. 

Looking along its upward course, it seemed to conduct, by a smooth 
gradual slope, directly toward the peak, which, from long consultation as 
we approached the mountain, we had decided to be the highest of the 
range. Pleased with the discovery of so fine a road for the next day, we 
hastened down to the camp, where we arrived just in time for supper. 
Our table service was rather scant; and we lield the meat in our hands, 
and clean rocks made good plates, on which we spread our raaccaroni. 
Among all the strange places on which we had occasion to encamp during 
our long journey, none have left so vivid an impression on my mind as 
the camp of this evening. The disorder of the masses which surrounded 
us; the little hole through which we saw the stars overhead; the dark 
pines where we slept; and the rocks lit up with the glow of our fires, 
made a night picture of very wild beauty. 

August 13. — The morning was bright and pleasant, just cool enough 
5 



oG CAFT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

to make exercise agreeable, and we soon entered the defile 1 had seen the 
preceding day. It was smoothly carpeted with a soft grass, and scattered 
over with groups of flowers, of which yellow was the predominant color. 
Sometimes we were forced, by an occasional difficult pass, to pick our way 
on a narrow ledge along the side of the defile, and the mules were fre- 
quently on their knees; but these obstructions were rare, and we journeyed 
on in the sweet morning air, delighted at our good fortune in having found 
such a beautiful entrance to the mountains. This road continued for about 
three miles, when we suddenly reached its termination in one of the grand 
views which, at every turn, meet the traveller in this magnificent region. 
Here the defile up which we had travelled opened out into a small lawn, 
where, in a little lake, the stream had its source. 

There were some fine asfcrs in bloom, but all the flowering plants appear- 
ed to seek the shelter of the rocks, and to be of lower growth than below, 
as if they loved the warmth of the soil, and kept out of the way of the 
winds. Immediately at our feet a precipitous descent led to a confusion 
of defiles, and before us rose the mountains as we have represented them 
in the annexed view. It is not by the splendor of far-off views, which 
have lent such a glory to the Alps, that these impress the mind ; but by a 
gigantic disorder of enormous masses, and a savage sublimity of naked 
rock, in wonderful contrast with innumerable green spots of a rich floral 
beauty, shut up in their stern recesses. Their wildness seems well suited 
to the character of the people who inhabit the country. 

1 determined to leave our animals here, and make the rest of our way on 
foot. The peak appeared so near, that there was no doubt of our returning 
before night; and a (cw men were left in charge of the mules, with our pro- 
visions and blankets. We took with us nothing but our arms and instru- 
ments, and, as the day had become warm, the greater part left our coats. 
Having made an early dinner, we started again. We were soon involved 
in the most ragged precipices, nearing the central chain very slowly, and 
rising but little. The first ridge hid a succession of others; and when, with 
great fatigue and difliculty, we had climbed up five hundred feet, it was but 
to make an equal descent on the other side ; all these intervening places 
were filled with small deep lakes, which met the eye in every direction, 
descending from one level to another, sometimes under bridges formed by 
huge fragments of granite, beneath which was heard the roar of the water. 
These constantly obstructed our path, forcing us to make \ong d6tours ; 
frequently obliged to retrace our steps, and frequently falling among the 
rocks. Maxwell was precipitated toward the face of a precipice, and saved 
himself from going over by throwing himself flat on the ground. We 
clambered on, always expecting, with every ridge that we crossed, to 
reach the foot of the peaks, and always disappointed, until about four 
o'clock, when, pretty well worn out, we reached the shore of a little lake, 
in which was a rocky island. We remained here a short time to rest, 
and continued on around the lake, which had in some places a beach of 
white sand, and in others was bound with rocks, over which the way 
was difficult and dangerous, as the water from innumerable springs made- 
them very slippery. 

By the time we had reached the further side of the lake, we found our- 
selves all exceedingly fatigued, and, much to the satisfaction of tlie whole 
party, we encamped. The spot we had chosen was a broad flat rock, in 
some measure protected from the winds by the surrounding crags, and the 



1542.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 67 

trunks of fallen pines afforded us bright fires. Near by was a foaming tor- 
rent, which tumbled into the little lake about one hundred and fifty feet 
below us, and which, by way of distinction, we have called Island lake. 
We had reached the upper limit of the piney region : as, above this point, 
no tree was to be seen, and patches of snow lay every where around us on 
the cold sides of the rocks. The flora of the region we had traversed since 
leaving our mules was extremely rich, and, among the characteristic plants, 
the scarlet flowers of the dodecatlieon dentutxim every where met the eye 
in great abundance. A small green ravine, on the edge of which we were 
encamped, was filled with a profusion of alpine plants in brilliant bloom. 
From barometrical observations, made during our three days' sojourn at 
this place, its elevation above the Gulf of Mexico is 10,000 feet. During 
the day, we had seen no sign of animal life ; but among the rocks here, we 
heard what was supposed to be the bleat of a young goat, which we search- 
ed for with hungry activity, and found to proceed from a small animal of a 
gray color, with short ears and no tail — probably the Siberian squirrel. We 
saw a considerable number ©f them, and, with the excejilion of a small bird 
like a sparrow, it is the only inhabitant of this elevated part of the moun- 
tains. On our return, we saw, below this lake, large flocks of the mountain 
goat. We liad nothing to eat to-night. Lajeunesse, with several others, 
took their guns, and sallied out in search of a goat ; but returned unsuccess- 
ful. At sunset, the barometer stood at 20.522 : the attached thermometer 
50°. Here we had the misfortune to break our thermometer, having now 
only that attached to the barometer. I was taken ill shortly after we had 
encamped, and continued so until late in the night, with violent headache 
and vomiting. This was probably caused by the excessive fatigue I had 
undergone, and want of food, and perhaps, also, in some measure, by the 
rarity of the air. The night was cold, as a violent gale from the north had 
sprung up at sunset, which entirely blew away the heat of the fires. The 
cold, and our granite beds, had not been favorable to sleep, and we were 
glad to see the face of the sun in the morning. Not being delayed by any 
preparation lor breakfast, we set out immediately. 

On every side as we advanced was heard the roar of waters, and of a 
torrent, which we followed up a short distance, until it expanded into a lake 
about one mile in length. On the northern side of the lake was a bank of 
ice, or rather of snow covered with a crust of ice. Carson had been our 
guide into the mountains, and, agreeably to his advice, we left this little 
valley, and took to the ridges again ; which we found extremely broken, 
and where we were again involved among precipices. Here were ice fields; 
among which we were all dispersed, seeking each the best path to ascend 
the peak. Mr. Preuss attempted to walk along the upper edge of one of 
tliese fields, which sloped away at an angle of about twenty degrees; but his 
feet slipped from under him, and he went plunging down the plane. A few 
hundred feet below, at the bottom, were some fragments of sharp rock, ^n 
which he landed ; and though he turned a couple of somersets, fortunately- 
received no itijury beyond a few bruises. Two of the men, Clement Lam- 
bert and Descoteaux, had been taken ill, and lay down on the rocks a short 
distance below ; and at this point I was attacked with headache and giddi- 
ness, accompanied by vomiting, as on the day before. Finding myself un- 
able to proceed, I sent the barometer over to Mr. Preuss, who was in a gap 
two or three hundred yards distant, desiring him to reach the peak, if pos- 
sible, and take an observation there. He found himself unable to proceed 



^Q CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

further in that direction, and took an observation, where the barometer stood 
at 19.401 ; attached thermometer 50°, in the gap. Carson, who had gone 
over to him, succeeded in reaching one of the snowy summits of the main 
ridge, whence he saw the peak towards which all our efforts had been di- 
rected, towering eight or ten hundred feet into the air above him. In the 
mean time, finding myself grow rather worse than better, and doubtful how 
far my strength would carry me, I sent Basil Lajeunesse, with four men, 
back to the place where the mules had been left. 

We were now better acquainted with the topography of the country, and 
I directed him to bring back with him, if it were in any way possible, four 
or five mules, with provisions and blankets. With me were Maxwell and 
Ayer ; and after we had remained nearly an hour on the rock, it became so 
unpleasantly cold, though the day was bright, that we set out on our return 
to the camp, at which we all arrived safely, straggling in one after the other. 
I'continued ill during the afternoon, but became better towards sundown, 
when ray recovery was completed by the appearance of Basil and four 
men, all mounted. The men who had gone \^ith him had been too much 
fatigued to return, and were relieved by those in charge of the horses; but 
in his powers of endurance Basil resembled more a mountain goat than a 
man. They brought blankets and provisions, and we enjoyed well our dried 
meat and a cup of good coffee. We rolled ourselves up in our blankets, 
and, with our feet turned to a blazing fire, slept soundly until morning. 

Jiii"-ust 15. — It had been supposed that we had finished with the moun- 
tains- and the evening before, it had been arranged that Carson should set 
GUI at daylight, and return to breakfast at the Camp of the Mules, taking 
with him' all but four or five men, who were to stay with me and bring back 
the mules and instruments. Accordingly, at the break of day they set out. 
With Mr. Preuss and myself remained Basil Lajeunesse, Clement Lambert, 
Janisse, and Descoteaux. When we had secured strength for the day by 
a hearty breakfast, we covered what remained, which was enough for one 
meal, with rocks, in order that it might be safe from any maraudmg bird ; 
and saddling our mules, turned our faces once more towards the peaks. 
This time we determined to proceed quietly and cautiously, deliberately 
resolved to accomplish our object if it were within the compass of human 
means. W^e were of opinion that a long defile which lay to the left of yes- 
terdav's route would lead us to the foot of the main peak. Our mules had 
been refreshed by the fine grass in the little ravine at the Island camp, and 
we intended to ride up the defile as far as possible, in order to husband our 
streno'th for the main ascent. Though this was a fine passage, still it was 
a defile of the most rugged mountains known, and we had many a rougli 
and steep slippery place to cross before reaching the end. In this place the 
sun rarely shone ; snow lay along the border of the small stream which 
flowed tlirough it, and occasional icy passages made the footing of the mules 
very insecure, and the rocks and ground were moist with the trickling 
waters in this spring of mighty rivers. We soon had the satisfaction to 
find ourselves riding along the huge wall which forms the central summits 
of the chain. There at last it rose by our sides, a nearly perpendicular wall 
of granite, terminating 2,000 to 3,000 feel above our heads in a serrated line 
of broken, jagged cones. We rode on until we came almost immediately 
below the main peak, which I denominated the Snow peak, as it exhibited 
more snow to the eye than any of the neighboring summits. Here were 
tliree small lakes of a green color, each of perhaps a thousand yards in. 



1S42.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. - (59 

diameter, and apparently very deep. These lay in a kind of chasm; and, 
according to the barometer, we had attained but a few hundred feet above 
the Island lake. The barometer here stood at 20.450, attached thermome- 
ter 70°. 

We managed to get onr mules up to a little bench about a hundred feet 
above the lakes, where there was a patch of good grass, and turned them 
loose to graze. Daring our rough ride to this place, they had exhibited a 
wonderful surefootedness. Parts of the defile were filled with angular, 
sharp fragments of rock, three or four and eight or ten feet cube; and among 
these they had worked their way, leaping from one narrow point to another, 
rarely making a false step, and giving us no occasion to dismount. Having 
divested ourselves of every unnecessary encumbrance, we commenced the 
ascent. This time, like experienced travellers, we did not press ourselves, 
but climbed leisurely, sitting down so soon as we found breath beginning 
to tail. At intervals we reached places where a number of springs gushed 
from the rocks, and about 1,800 feet above the lakes came to the snow line. 
From this point our progress was uninterrupted chmbing. Hitherto I had 
worn a pair of thick moccasins, with soles of parfleche; but here I put on 
a light thin pair, which I had brought for the purpose, as now the use of 
our toes became necessary to a further advance. I availed myself of a sort 
of comb of the mountain, which stood against the wall like a buttress, and 
which the wind and the solar radiation, joined to the steepness of the smooth 
rock, had kept almost entirely free from snow. Up this I made my way 
rapidly. Our cautious metliod of advancing in the outset had spared my 
strength ; and, with the exception of a slight disposition to headache, I felt 
no remains of yesterday's illness. In a few minutes we reached a point 
where the buttress was overhanging, and there \vas no other way of sur- 
mounting the ditiiculty than by passing around one side of it, which was 
the face of a vertical precipice of several hundred feet. 

Putting hands and feet in the crevices between the blocks, I succeeded 
in getting over it, and, when I reached the top, found my companions in a 
small valley below. Descending to them, we continued climbing, and in 
a short time reached the crest. I sprang upon the summit, and another 
step would have precipitated me into an immense snow field five hundred 
feet below. To the edge of this field was a sheer icy precipice ; and then, 
with a gradual fall, the field sloped off for about a mile, until it struck the 
foot of another lower ridge. I stood on a narrow crest, about three feet in 
width, with an inclination of about 20° N. 51° E. As soon as I had grati- 
fied the first feelings oi curiosity, I descended, and each man ascended in 
his turn; for I would only allow one at a time to n)Ount the unstable and 
precarious slab, which it seemed a breath would hurl into the abyss below. 
We mounted the barometer in the snow of the summit, and, fixing a ramrod 
in a crevice, unfurled the national flag to wave in the breeze where never 
flag waved before. During our morning's ascent, we had met no sign of 
animal life, except the small sparrow-like bird already mentioned. A still- 
ness the most profound and a terrible solitude forced themselves constantly 
on the mind as the great features of the place. Here, on the summit, where 
the stillness was absolute, unbroken by any sound, and the solitude com- 
plete, we thought ourselves beyond the region of animated life ; but while 
we were sitting on the rock, a solitary bee {bromus, the humble bee) came 
winging his flight from the eastern valley, and lit on the knee of one of the 
men. 



70 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

It was a strange place, the icv rock and the highest peak of the Rocky 
moiHitaiiis, for a lover of warm sunshine and flowers ; and we pleased our- 
selves with the idea that he was the first of his species to cross the mountain 
barrier — a solitary pioneer to foretell the advance of civilization. I believe 
that a moment's thought would have made us let him continue his way un- 
harmed ; but we carried out the law of this country, where all animated na- 
ture seems at war; and, seizing him immediately, put him in at least a fit 
place — in the leaves of a large book, among the flowers we had collected 
on our way. The barometer stood at 1S.293, the attached thermometer at 
44°; giving for the elevation of this summit 13,570 feet above the Gulf of 
Mexico, which may be called the highest flight of the bee. It is certainly 
the highest known flight of that insect. From the description given by 
Mackenzie of the mountains where he crossed them, with that of a French 
officer still farther to the north, and Colonel Long's measurements to the 
south, joined to the opinion of the oldest traders of the country, it is pre- 
sumed that this is the highest peak of the Rocky moiuitains. The day was 
sunny and bright, but a slight shining mist hung over the lower plains, 
which interfered with our view of the surrounding country. On one side 
we overlooked inmmierable lakes and streams, the spring of the Colorado of 
the Gulf of California ; and on the other was the Wind river valley, where 
were the heads of the Yellowstone branch of the Missouri ; far to the north, 
we just could discover the snowy heads of the Truis Tetons, where were 
the sources of the Missouri and Columbia rivers; and at the southern ex- 
tremity of the ridge, the peaks were plainly visible, among which were 
some of the springs of the Nebraska or Platte river. Around us, the whole 
scene had one main striking feature, which was that of terrible convulsion. 
Parallel to its length, the ridge was split into chasms and fissures ; between 
which rose the thin lofty walls, terminated with slender minarets and 
columns. According to the barometer, the little crest of the wall on which 
we stood was three thousand five hundred and seventy feet above that place, 
and two thousand seven hundred and eighty above the little lakes at the 
bottom, immediately at our feet. Our camp at the Two Hills (an astro- 
nomical station) bore south 3^ east, which, with a bearing afterward ob- 
tained from a fixed position, enabled us to locate the peak. The bearing 
of the Trois Tetons was north 50° west, and the direction of the central 
ridge of the Wind river mountains south 39° east. The summit rock was 
gneiss, succeeded by sienitic gneiss. Sienite and feldspar succeeded in 
our descent to the snow line, where we found a feldspathic granite. I had 
remarked that the noise produced by the explosion of our pistols had the 
usual degree of loudness, but was not in the least prolonged, expiring al- 
most instantaneously. Having now made what observations our means 
aff"orded, we proceeded to descend. We had accomplished an object of 
laudable ambition, and beyond the strict order of our instructions. We 
had climbed the loftiest peak of the Rocky mountains, and looked down 
upon the snow a thousand feet below, and, standing where never human 
foot had stood before, felt the exultation of first explorers. It was about 2 
o'clock when we left the summit ; and when we reached the bottom, the sun 
had already sunk behind the wall, and the day was drawing to a close. It 
would have been pleasant to have lingered here and on the summit longer; 
but we hurried away as rapidly as the ground would permit, for it was an 
object to regain our party as soon as possible, not knowing what accident 
the next hour might bring forth. 



1342.1 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 71 

We reached our deposite of provisions at nightfall. Here was not the 
inn which awaits the tired traveller on his return from Mout Blanc, or the 
orange groves of South America, with their refreshing juices and soi\ fra- 
grant air ; but we foiuid our little cache of dried meat and coffee undis- 
Uirbed. Though the moon was bright, the road was full of precipices, and 
the fatigue of the day had been great. We therefore abandoned the idea 
of rejoining our friends, and lay down on the rock, and, in spite of the 
cold, slept soundly. 

^^ugust 16, — We left our encampment with the daylight. We saw on 
our way large flocks of the mountain goat looking down on us from the 
cliffs. At the crack of a rifle, they would bound off among the rocks, and 
in a few minutes make their appearance on some lofty peak, some hundred 
or a thousand feet above. It is needless to attempt any further description 
of the country ; the portion over which we travelled this morning was 
rough as imagination could picture it, and to us seemed equally beautiful. 
A concourse of lakes and rushing waters, mountains of rocks naked and 
destitute of vegetable earth, dells and ravines of the most exquisite beauty, 
all kept green and fresh by the great moisture in the air, and sown with 
brilliant flowers, and every wiiere thrown around all the glory of most mag- 
nificent scenes: these constitute the features of the place, and impress them- 
selves vividly on the mind of the traveller. It was not until 11 o'clock that 
we reached the place where our animals had been left, when we first at- 
tempted the mountains on foot. Near one of the still burning fires we 
found a piece of meat, which our friends had thrown away, and which 
furnished us a mouthful — a very scanty breakfast. We continued directly 
on, and reached our camp on the mountain lake at dusk. We found all 
well. Nothing had occurred to interrupt the quiet since our departure, 
and the fine grass and good cool water had done much to re-establish 
our animals. All heard with great delight the order to turn our faces 
homeward; and toward sundovt/-n of the 17th, we encamped again at the 
Two Buttes. 

In the course of this afternoon's march, the barometer was broken past 
remedy. I regretted it, as I was desirous to compare it again with Dr. En- 
gelman's barometers at St. Louis, to which mine were referred ; but it had 
done Us part well, and my objects were mainly fulfilled. 

,/lugiist 19. — We left our camp on Little Sandy river about 7 in the 
morning, and traversed the same sandy, undulating country. The air was 
filled with the turpentine scent of the various artemisias, which are now 
in bloom, and, numerous as they are, give much gayety to the landscape 
of the plains. At 10 o'clock, we stood exactly on the divide in the pass, 
Avhere the wagon road crosses, and, descending immediately upon the Sweet 
Water, halted to take a meridian observation of the sun. The latitude was 
42° 24' 32". 

In the course of the afternoon we saw buflalo again, and at our evening 
halt on the Sweet Water the roasted ribs again made their appearance 
around the fires ; and, with them, good humor, and laughter, and song, were 
restored to t ^e camp. Our cofl'ee had been expended, but we now made a 
kird o; tea from the roots of the wild cherry tree. 

*/i}fgust 23. — Yesterday evening we reached our encampment at Rock 
Independence, where I took some astronomical observations. Here, not 
unmindful of the custom of early travellers and explorers in our country, 



72 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

I engraved on this rock of the Far West a symbol of the Christian faith. 
Among the thickly inscribed names, I made on the hard granite the im- 
pression of a large cross, which I covered with a black preparation of India 
rubber, well calculated to resist the iniluence of wind and rain. It stands 
amidst the names of many who have long since found their way to the 
grave, and for whom the huge rock is a giant gravestone. 

One George Weymouth was sent out to Maine by the Earl of South- 
ampton, Lord Arundel, and others ; and in the narrative of their discoveries, 
he says: " The next day, we ascended in our pinnace that part of the 
river which lies more to the westward, carrying with us a cross — a thing 
never omitted by any Christian traveller — which we erected at the ultimate 
end of our route." This was in the year 1605 ; and in 1842 I obeyed the 
feeling of early travellers, and left the impression of the cross deeply en- 
graved on the vast rock one thousand miles beyond the Mississippi^^ 
to which discoverers have given the national name of Rock Independence. 

In obedience to my instructions to survey the river Platte, if possible, I 
had determined to make an attempt at this place. The India-rubber boat 
was filled with air, placed in the water, and loaded with what was neces- 
sary for our operations; and I embarked with Mr. Preuss and a party of 
men. When we had dragged our boat for a mile or two over the sands, I 
abandoned the impossible undertaking, and waited for the arrival of the 
party, when we packed up our boat and equipage, and at 9 o'clock wer& 
again moving along on our land journey. We continued along the valley 
on the right bank of the Sweet Water, where the formation, as already de- 
scribed, consists of a grayish micaceous sandstone, and fine-grained con- 
glomerate, and marl. We passed over a ridge which borders or constitutes 
the river hills of the Platte, consisting of huge blocks, sixty or eighty feet 
cube, of decomposing granite. The cement which united them was proba- 
bly of easier decomposition, and has disappeared and left them isolate, and 
separated by small spaces. Numerous horns of the mountain goat were 
lying among the rocks ; and in the ravines were cedars, whose trunks were 
of extraordinary size. From this ridge we descended to a small open plain 
at the mouth of the Sweet Water, which rushed with a rapid current into 
the Platte, here flowing along in a broad, tranquil, and apparently deep 
stream, which seemed, from its turbid appearance, to be considerably 
swollen. I obtained here some astronomical observations, and the after- 
noon was spent in getting our boat ready for navigation the next day. 

Jlugust 24. — We started before sunrise, intending to breakfast at Goat 
island. I had directed the land party, in charge of Bernier, to proceed to 
this place, where they were to remain, should they find no note to apprize 
them of our having passed. In the event of receiving this information, 
they were to continue their route, passing by certain places which had been 
designated. Mr. Preuss accompanied me, and with us were five of my 
best men, viz: C. Lambert, Basil Lajeunesse, Honore Ayot, Benoist, and 
Descoteaux. Here appeared no scarcity of water, and we took on board, 
with various instruments and baggage, provisions for ten or twelve days. 
We paddled down the river rapidly, for our little craft was light as a duck 
on the water; and the sun had been some time risen, when we heard before 
us d hollow roar, which we supposed to be that of a fall, of which we had 
heard a vague rumor, i;ut whose exact locality no one had been able to de- 
scribe tc us. We were approaching a ridge, through which tlie river passes 



1842.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 73 

by a place called " cafion," (pronounced kani/on,) a Spanish word, signify- 
ing a piece of artillery, the barrel of a gun, or any kind of tube ; and 
which, in this country, has been adopted to describe the passage of a river 
between perpendicular rocks of great height, which frequently approach 
each other so closely overhead as to form a kind of tunnel over the stream, 
which foams along below, half choked up by fallen fragments. Between 
the mouth of the Sweet Water and Goat island, there is probably a fall of 
300 feet, and that was principally made in the canons before us ; as, with- 
out them, the water was comparatively smooth. As we neared the ridge, 
the river made a sudden turn, and swept squarely down against one of the 
walls of the cauon with a great velocity, and so steep a descent, that it had, 
to the eye, the appearance of an inclined plane. When we launched into 
this, the men jumped overboard, to check the velocity of the boat, but were 
soon in water up to their necks, and our boat ran on ; but we succeeded in 
bringing her to a small point of rocks on the right, at the mouth of the 
canon. Here was a kind of elevated sand beach, not many yards square, 
backed by the rocks, and around the point the river swept at a right angle. 
Trunks of trees deposited on jutting points 20 or 30 feet above, and other 
marks, showed that the water here frequently rose to a considerable height. 
The ridge was of the same decomposing granite already mentioned, and 
the water had worked the surface, in many places, into a wavy surface of 
ridges and holes. We ascended the rocks to reconnoitre the ground, and 
from the summit the passage appeared to be a continued cataract foaming 
over many obstructions, and broken by a number of small falls. We saw 
nowhere a fall answering to that which had been described to us as having 
20 or 25 feet ; but still concluded this to be the place in question, as, in the 
season of floods, the rush of the river against the wall would produce a 
great rise, and the waters, reflected squarely off", would descend through the 
passage in a sheet of foam, having every appearance of a large fall. Eigh- 
teen years previous to this lime, as 1 have subsequently learned from him- 
self, Mr. Fitzpatrick, somewhere above on this river, had embarked with a 
valuable cargo of beaver. Unacquainted with the stream, which he be- 
lieved would conduct him safely to the Missouri, he came unexpectedly into 
this canon, where he was wrecked, with the total loss of his furs. It would 
have been a work of great time and labor to pack our baggage across the 
ridge, and I determined to run the canon. We all again embarked, and at 
first attempted to check the way of the boat ; but the water swept through 
with so much violence that we narrowly escaped being swamped, and were 
obliged to let her go in the full force of the current, and trust to the skill of 
the boatmen. The dangerous places in this canon were where huge rocks 
had fallen from above, and hemmed in the already narrow pass of the 
river to an open space of three or four and five feet. These obstructions 
raised the water considerably above, which was sometimes precipitated over 
in a fall ; and at other places, where this dam was too high, rushed through 
the contracted openmg with tremendous violence. Had our boat beea 
made of wood, in passing the narrows she would have been staved ; but 
her elasticity preserved her unhurt from every shock, and she seemed fairly 
to leap over the falls. 

In this way we passed three cataracts in succession, where, perhaps 100 
feet of smooth water intervened ; and, finally, with a shout of pleasure at 
our success, issued from our tunnel into the open day beyond. We were 
so delighted with the performance of our boat, and so confident in her 



74 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

powers, that we would not have hesitated to leap a fall of ten feet with her. 
We put to shore for breakfast at some willows on the right bank, immedi- 
ately below the mouth of the cailon ; for it was now 8 o'clock, and we had 
been working since daylight, and were all wet, fatigued, and hungry. 
While the men were preparing breakfast, I went out to reconnoitre. The 
view was very limited. The course of the river was smooth, so far as I 
could see ; on both sides were broken hills ; and but a mile or two below 
■was another high ridge. The rock at the mouth of the cailon was still the 
decomposing granite, with great quantities of mica, which made a very 
glittering sand. 

We re-embarked at 9 o'clock, and in about twenty minutes reached the 
next canon. Landing on a rocky shore at its commencement, we ascended 
the ridge to reconnoitre. Portage was out of the question. So far as we 
could see, the jagged rocks pointed out the course of the canon, on a wind- 
ing line of seven or eight miles. It was simply a narrow, dark chasm in 
the rock ; and here the perpendicular faces were much higher than in the 
previous pass, being at this end two to three hundred, and further down, as 
we afterwards ascertained, five hundred feet in vertical height. Our pre- 
vious success had made us bold, and we determined again to run the canon. 
Every thing was secured as firmly as possible ; and having divested our- 
selves of the greater part of our clothing, we pushed into the stream. To 
save our chronometer from accident, Mr. Preuss took it, and attempted to 
proceed along the shore on the masses of rock, which in places were piled 
up on either side; but, after he had walked about five minutes, every thing 
like shore disappeared, and the vertical wall came squarely down into the 
water. He therefore wailed until we came up. An ugly pass lay before us. 
We had made fast to the stern of the boat a strong rope about fifty feet long: 
and three of the men clambered along among the rocks, and with this rope 
let her down slowly through the pass. In several places high rocks lay scat- 
tered about in the channel ; and in the narrows it required all our strength 
and skill to avoid staving the boat on the sharp points. In one of these, the 
boat proved a little too broad, and stuck fast for an instant, while the water 
flew over us; fortunately, it was but for an instant, as onr united strength 
forced her immediately through. The water swept overboard only a sextant 
and a pair of saddlebags. I caught the sextant as it passed by me ; but the 
saddlebags became the prey of the whirlpools. We reached the place where 
Mr. Preuss was standing, took him on board, and, with the aid of the boat, 
put the men with the rope on the succeeding pile of rocks. We found this 
passage much worse than the previous one, and our position was rather a bad 
one. To go back, was impossible ; before us, the cataract was a sheet of 
foam ; and shut up in the chasm by the rocks, which, in some places, seemed 
almost to meet overhead, the roar of the water was deafening. We pushed 
off again ; but, after making a little distance, the force of the current became 
loo great for the men on shore, and two of them let go the rope. Lajeunesse, 
the third man, hung on, and was jerked headforemost into the river from a 
rock about twelve feet high ; and down the boat shot like an arrow, Basil 
following us in the rapid current, and exerting all his strength to keep in 
mid chaimel — his head only seen occasionally like a black spot in the white 
foam. How far we went, I do not exactly kno^ ; but we succeeded in turn- 
ing the boat iiuo an eddy below " 'Cre Dieii/' said Basi! Lajeunesse, as 
he arrived immediately after us, "Je crois bien quej^ai nage un demi mile.'' 
He had owed his life to his skill as a swimmer , and I determined to take 



1842.] 



CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 



him and the two others on board, and trust to skill and fortune to reach the 
other end in safety. We placed ourselves on our knees, with the short 
paddles in our hands, the most skilful boatman being at the bow; and 
again we commenced our rapid descent. We cleared rock after rock, and 
shot past fall after fall, our little boat seeming to play with the cataract. 
We became flushed with success, and familiar with the danger ; and, yield- 
ing to the excitement of the occasion, broke forth together into a Canadian 
boat song. Singing, or rather shouting, we dashed along; and were, I 
believe, in the midst of the chorus, when the boat struck a concealed rock 
immediately at the foot of a fall, which whirled her over in an instant. 
Three of my men could not swim, and my first feeling was to assist them, 
and save some of our effects ; but a sharp concussion or two convinced me 
that I had not yet saved myself A few strokes brought me into an eddy, 
and I landed on a pile of rocks on the left side. Looking around, I saw that 
Mr. Preuss had gained the shore on the same side, about twenty yards 
below ; and a little climbing and swimming soon brought him to my side. 
On the opposite side, against the wall, lay the boat bottom up ; and Lambert 
was in the act of saving Descoteaux, wliom he had grasped by the hair, 
and who could not swim ; '■^ L ache pas,'' said he, as I afterward learned, 
^'' lache pasy cher frlre.'' '■'■ Grains pas'' was the reply, " ^e m'en vais 
niourir avant que de te Idcher." Such was the reply of courage and 
generosity in this danger For a hundred yards below, the current was cov- 
ered with floating books and boxes, bales of blankets, and scattered articles 
of clothing; and so strong and boiling was the stream, that even our heavy 
instruments, which were all in cases, kept on the surface, and the sextant, 
circle, and the long black box of the telescope, were in view at once. For 
a moment, I felt somewhat disheartened. All our books — almost every 
record of the journey — our journals and registers of astronomical and bar- 
ometrical observations — had been lost in a moment. But it was no time to 
indulge in regrets; and I immediately set about endeavoring to save some- 
thing from the wreck, * Making ourselves understood as well as possible by 
signs, (for nothing could be heard in the roar of waters,) we commenced our 
operations. Of every thing on board, the only article that had been saved 
was my douWe barrelled gun, which Descoteaux had caught, and clung to 
withdrowning tenacity. The men continued down the river on the left bank. 
Mr. Preuss and myself descended on the side we were on; and Lajeunesse, 
with a paddle in his hand, jumped on the boat alone, and continued down 
the canon. She was now light, and cleared every bad place with much less 
difficulty. In a short time, he was joined by Lambert ; and the search was 
continued for about a mile and a half, which was as far as the boat could 
proceed in the pass. 

Here the walls were about five hundred feet high, and the fragments of 
rocks from above had choked the river into a hollow pass, but one or two 
feet above the surface. Through this and the interstices of the rock, the wa- 
ter found its way. Favored beyond our expectations, all of our registers had 
been recovered, with the exception of one of my journals, which contained 
the notes and incidents of travel, and topographical descriptions, a number of 
scattered astronomical observations, principally meridian altitudes of the 
sun, and our barometrical register west of Laramie. Fortunately, our other 
journals contained duplicates of the most important barometrical observa- 
tions which had been taken in the mountains. These, with a few scattered 
notes, were all that had been preserved of our meteorological observations. 



76 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

In addition to these, we saved the circle ; and these, with a {e\v blankets, 
constituted every thing that had been rescued from the waters. 

The day was running rapidly away, and it was necessary to reach Goat 
island, whither the party had preceded us, before night. In this uncertain 
country, the traveller is so much in the power of chance, that we became 
somewhat uneasy in regard to them. Should any thing have occurred, in 
the brief interval of our separation, to prevent our rejoining them, our situ- 
ation would be rather a desperate one. We had not a morsel of provisions — 
our arms and ammunition were gone — and we were entirely at the mercy 
of any straggling party of savages, and not a little in danger of starvation. 
We therefore set out at once in two parties. Mr. Preuss and myself on the 
left, and the men on the opposite side of the river. Climbing out of the 
canon, we found ourselves in a very broken country, where we were not 
yet able to recognise any locality. In the course of our descent through 
the canon, the rock, which at the upper end was of the decomposing granite, 
changed into a varied sandstone formation. The hills and points of the 
ridges were covered with fragments of a yellow sandstone, of which the 
strata were sometimes displayed in the broken ravines which interrupted 
our course, and made our walk extremely fatiguing. At one point of the 
caiion the red argillaceous sandstone rose in a wall of five hundred feet, 
surmounted by a stratum of white sandstone ; and in an opposite ravine a 
column of red sandstone rose, inform like a steeple, about one hundred and 
fifty feet high. The scenery was extremely picturesque, and, notwithstand- 
ing our forlorn condition, we were frequently obliged to stop and admire it. 
Our progress was not very rapid. We had emerged from the water half 
naked, and, on arriving at the top of the precipice, I found myself with only 
one moccasin. The fragments of rock made walking painful, and I was fre- 
quently obliged to stop and pull out the thorns of the cactus, here the pre- 
vaiUng plant, and with which a few minutes' walk covered the bottom of 
my feet. From this ridge the river emerged into a smiling prairie, and, de- 
scending to the bank for water, we were joined by Benoist. The rest of 
the party w ere out of sight, having taken a more inland route. We crossed 
the river repeatedly — sometimes able to ford it, and sometimes swimming — 
climbed over the ridges of two more canons, and towards e\6ening reached 
the cut, which we here named the Hot Spring gate. On our previous visit 
in July, we had not entered this pass, reserving it for our descent in the 
boat; and when we entered it this evening, Mr. Preuss was a few hundred 
feet in advance. Heated with the long march, he came suddenly upon a 
fine bold spring gushing from the rock, about ten feet above the river. 
Eager to enjoy the crystal water, he threw himself down for a hasty draught, 
and took a mouthful of water almost boiling hot. He said nothing to Be- 
noist, who laid himself down to drink ; but the steam from the water arrest- 
ed his eagerness, and he escaped the hot draught. We had no thermometer 
to ascertain the temperature, but I could hold my hand in the water just long 
enough to count two seconds. There are eight or ten of these springs, dis- 
charging themselves by streams large enough to be called runs. A loud hol- 
low noise was heard from the rock, which I supposed to he produced by the 
fall of the water. The strata immediately where they issue is a fine white and 
calcareous sandstone, covered with an incrustation of common salt. Leav- 
ing this Thermopylai of the west, in a short walk we reached the red ridge 
which has been described as lying just above Goat Island. Ascending this, 
we found some fresh tracks ana a button, which showed that the other men 



1842] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 77 

had already arrived. A shout from the man who first reached the top of 
the ridge, responded to from below, informed us that our friends were all 
on the island ; and we were soon among them. We found some pieces of 
buffalo standing around the fire for us, and managed to get some dry clothes 
among the people. A sudden storm of rain drove us into the best shelter 
we could find, where we slept sotmdly, after one of the most fatiguing 
days I have ever experienced. 

^Sugiist 25. — Early this morning Lajeunesse was sent to the wreck for 
the articles which bad been saved, and about noon we left the island. The 
mare which we had left here in July had much improved in condition, and 
she served us well again for some time, but was finally abandoned at a 
subsequent part of the journey. At 10 in the morning of the 26th we 
reached Cache camp, where we found every thing undisturbed. We disin- 
terred our deposite, arranged our carts which had been left here on the 
way out, and, travelling a few miles in the afternoon, encamped for the 
night at the ford of the Platte. 

^dugust 27. — At midday we halted at the place where we had taken din- 
ner on the 27th of July. The country which, when we passed up, looked 
as if tlie hard winter frosts had passed over it, had now assumed a new 
face, so much of vernal freshness had been given to it by the late rains. 
The Platte was exceedingly low — a mere line of water among the sand- 
bars. We reached Laramia fort on the last day of August, after an ab- 
sence of forty-two days, and had the pleasure to find our friends all well. 
The fortieth day had been fixed for our return ; and the quick eyes of the 
Indians, who were on the lookout for us, discovered our flag as we wound 
among the hills. The fort saluted us with repeated discharges of its single 
piece, which we returned with scattered volleys of our small arms, and felt 
the joy of a home reception in getting back to this remote station, which 
seemed so far off as we went out. 

On the morning of the 3d of September we bade adieu to our kind friends 
at the fort, and continued our homeward journey down the Platte, which 
was glorious with the autunnial splendor of innumerable flowers in full and 
brilliant bloom. On the warm sands, among the helianthi, one of the 
characteristic plants, we saw great numbers of rattlesnakes, of which five 
or six were killed in the morning's ride. We occupied ourselves in im- 
proving our previous survey of the river; and, as the weather was fine, 
astronomical observations were generally made at night and at noon. 

We halted for a short time on the afternoon of the 5th with a village of 
Sioux Indians, some of whose chiefs we had met at Laramie. The water 
in the Platte was extremely low ; in many places, the large expanse of 
sands, with some occasional stunted trees on the banks, gave it the air of 
the seacoast ; the bed of the river being merely a succession of sandbars, 
among whicli the channel was divided into rivulets a few inches deep. 
We crossed and recrossed with our carts repeatedly and at our pleasure ; 
and, whenever an obstruction barred our way, in the shape of precipitous 
bluffs that came down upon the river, we turned directly into it, and made 
our way along the sandy bed, with no other inconvenience than the fre- 
quent quicksands, which greatly fatigued our animals. Disinterring on the 
way the cache which had been made by our party when they ascended the 
river, we reached without accident, on the evening of the 12th of Septem- 
ber, our old encampment of the 2d of July, at the junction of the forks. 
Our cache of the barrel of pork was found undisturbed, and proved a sea- 



78 OAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1842. 

sonable addition to our stock of provisions. At this place I had determined 
to make another attempt to descend the Platte by water, and accordingly 
spent two days in the construction of a bull boat. Men were sent out on 
the evening of our arrival, the necessary number of bulls killed, and their 
skins brought to the camp. Four of the best of them were strongly sewed 
together with buffalo sinew, and stretched over a basket frame of willow. 
The seams were then covered with ashes and tallow, and the boat left ex- 
posed to the sun for the greater part of one day, which was sufficient to 
dry and contract the skin, and make the whole work solid and strong. It 
had a rounded bow, was eight feet long and five broad, and drew with 
four men about four inches water. On the morning of the 15th we em- 
barked in our hide boat, Mr, Preuss and m^'^self, with two men. We 
dragged her over the sands for three or four miles, and then left her on a 
bar, and abandoned entirely all further attempts to navigate this river. The 
names given by the Indians are always remarkably appropriate; and cer- 
tainly none was ever more so than that which they have given to this 
stream — " the Nebraska, or Shallow river,'' Walking steadily the remain- 
der of the day, a little before dark we overtook our people at their even- 
ing camp, about twenty-one miles below the junction. The next morning 
we crossed the Platte, and continued our way down the river bottom on 
the left bank, where we found an excellent plainly beaten road. 

On the ISth we reached Grand island, which is fifty-two miles long, with 
an average breadth of one mile and three-quarters. It has on it some small 
eminences, and is sufficiently elevated to be secure from the annual floods 
of the river. As has been already remarked, it is well timbered, with an 
excellent soil, and recommends itself to notice as the best point for a mili- 
tary position on the Lower Platte. 

On the 22d we arrived at the village of the Grand Pawnees, on the right 
bank of the river, about thirty miles above the mouth of the Jjoup fork. 
They were gathering in their corn, and we obtained from them a very wel- 
come supply of vegetables. 

The morning of the 24th we reached the Loup fork of the Platte. At 
the place where we forded it, this stream was lour hundred and thirty 
yards broad, with a swift current of clear water ; in this respect, diff"ering 
from the Platte, which has a yellow muddy color, derived from the lime- 
stone and marl formation, of which we have previously spoken. The ford 
was difficult, as the water was so deep that it came into the body of the 
carts, and we reached the opposite bank after repeated attempts, ascending 
and descending the bed of the river in order to avail ourselves of the bars. 
We encamped on the left bank of the fork, in the point of land at its junc- 
tion with tne Platte. During the two days that we remained here for 
astronomical observations, the bad weather permitted us to obtain but one 
good observation for the latitude — a meridian altitude of the sun, which 
gave for the latitude of the mouth of the Loup fork, 41° 22' 11". 

Five or six days previously, I had sent forward C. Lambert, with two men, 
to Bellevue, with directions to ask from Mr. P. Sarpy the gentleman in charge 
of the American Company's establishment at that place, the aid of his carpen- 
ters in constructing a boat, in which I proposed to descend the Missouri. On 
the afternoon of the 27th we met one of the men, who had been despatched 
by Mr. Sarpy with a welcome supply of provisions and a very kind note, 
which gave us the very gratifying intelligence that our boat was in rapid 
progress. On the evening of the 30th we encamped in an almost impeue- 



1842.] CAPT. FREiMONT'S NARRATIVE. 7^ 

trable undergrowth on the left bank of the Platte, in the point of land at its 
confluence with the Missouri — three hundred and fifteen miles, according 
to our reckoning, from the junction of the forks, and five hundred and 
twenty from Fort Laramie. 

From the junction we had found the bed of the Platte occupied with nu- 
merous islands, many of them very large, and all well timbered ; possess- 
ing, as well as the bottom lands of \he river, a very excellent soil. With 
the exceptiori of some scattered groves on the banks, the bottoms are gen- 
erally without timber. A portion of these consist of low groinids, covered 
with a profusion of fine grasses, and are probably iimudated in the springs^ 
the remaining part is high river prairie, entirely beyond the influence of 
the floods. The breadth of the river is usually three-quarters of a mile, 
except where it is enlarged by islands. That portion of its course which 
is occupied by Grand island has an average breadth, from shore to shore, 
of two and a half miles. The breadth of the valley, with the various ac- 
cidents of ground — springs, timber, and whatever I have thought interest- 
ing to travellers and settlers. 

October 1. — I rose this morning long before daylight, and heard with a 
feeling of pleasure the tinkling of cow bells at the settlements on the op- 
posite side of the Missouri. Early in the day we reached Mr. Sarpy's 
residence ; and, in the security and comfort of his hospitable mansion, felt 
the pleasure of being again within the pale of civilization. VVe found our 
boat on the stocks ; a few days sufficed to complete her; and, in the af- 
ternoon of the 4th, we embarked on the Missouri. All our equipage — 
liorses, carts, and the m<rteriel of the camp — had been sold at 'public auc- 
tion at Bellevue. The strength of my party enabled me to man the boat 
with ten oars, relieved every hour; and we descended rapidly. Early on 
the morning of the 10th, we halted 10 make some astronomical observa- 
tions at the mouth of the Kansas, exactly four months since we had left 
the trading post of Mr. Cyprian Chouteau, on the same river, ten miles 
above. On our descent ro this place, we had employed ourselves in sur- 
veying and sketching the Missouri, making astronomical observations reg- 
ularly at night and at midday, whenever the weather permitted. These 
operations on the river were continued until our arrival at the city of St. 
Louis, Missouri, on the 17th. At St. Louis, the sale of our remaining 
effects was miide; and, leaving ftiat city by steamboat on the ISth, I had 
the honor to report to you at the city of Washington on the 29th of Octo- 
ber. 

Very respectfully, sir, your obedient servant, 

J. C. FREMONT, 
2d Lieut. Corps of Topographical Engineers, 



TABLE 



OF 



LATITUDES AND LONGITUDES 



TAKEN DURING 



THE EXPEDITIONS OF 1842, AND 1843-'44. 



1S42.] 



CAPT. FREE]MONT'S NARRATIVE. 



S3 



TABLE OF LATITUDES AND LONGITUDES. 

FIRST EXPEDITION. 



Date. 


Station. 


Latitud 


e. 


Longitude. 


1842. 




Deg. min 


sec. 


Dcg. 


min. sec. 


May 27 


St. Louis, residence of Colonel Brant 


38 37 


34 






lane 8 


Chouteau's lower trailing post, Kansas river 


39 05 


57 


94 


25 46 


16 


Left bank of the Kansas river, seven miles above the 












ford _.---. 


39 06 


40 


95 


38 05 


18 


Vermillion creelc - - - - - 


39 15 


19 


96 


04 07 


19 


Cold Springs, near the road to Laramie 


39 30 


40 


96 


14 49 


20 


Big Blue river ..... 


39 45 


08 


96 


32 35 


25 


Little Blue river - _ . - . 


40 26 


50 


98 


22 12 


26 


Eight bank of Platte river - . - . 


40 41 


06 


98 


45 49 


27 


Right bank of Platte river . - - - 


40 39 


32 


99 


05 24 


28 


Right bank of Platte river - - - - 


40 39 


51 






30 


Right bank of Platte river - - - - 


40 39 


55 


100 


05 4 


July 2 


Junction of North and South forks of the Nebraska 












or Platte river - . . - _ 


41 05 


05 


100 


49 43 


4 


South fork of Platte river, left bank. 










6 


South fork of Platte river, island - . . 


40 51 


17 


103 


07 


7 


South fork of Platte river, left bank - - - 


40 53 


26 


103 


30 37 


11 


South fork of Platte river, St. Vrain's fort - 


40 22 


35 


105 


13 12 


12 


Crow creek _ . . . _ 


40 41 


59 


104 


57 49 


13 


On a stream, name unknown - . - 


41 03 


30 


104 


39 37 


14 


Horse creek, Goshen's hole * - - - 


41 40 


13 


104 


24 36 


16 


Fort Ijaramie, near the moulh of Laramie's fcrk 


43 12 


10 


104 


47 43 


23 


North fork of Platte river - -, - - 


42 39 


25 


104 


59 59 


24 


North fork of Platte river - - - - 


42 47 


40 






2.5 


North forlc of Platte river. Dried Meat camp 


42 51 


35 


105 


60 45 


26 


North fork of Platte river, noon halt 


42 50 


08 






26 


North fork of Platte river, mouth of Deer creek 


42 53 


24 


106 


08 24 


28 


North fork of Platte river, Cache camp 


42 50 


53 


106 


38 26 


29 


North fork of Platte river, left bank 


42 38 


01 


106 


54 32 


30 


North fork of Platte river, Goat island 


42 33 


27 


107 


13 29 


Ang. 1 


Sweet Vt'ater river, one mile below Rock Independ- 












ence ._-.-_ 


42 29 


56 


107 


25 23 


4 


Sweet Water river - 


42 32 


31 


108 


30 13 


7 


Sweet Water river - - - - . 


42 27 


15 


109 


21 32 


8 


Little Sandy creek, tributary to the Colorado of the 












West 


42 27 


34 


109 


37 59 


9 


New fork, tributary to the Colorado 


42 42 


46 


109 


58 11 


10 


Mountain \^ke _ . . - . 


43 49 


49 


110 


08 03 


15 


Highest peak. of the Wind river mountains. 










19 


Sweet Water, noon halt - - . . 


42 24 


32 






19 


Sweet Water river - - - - - 


42 23 


23 






20 


Sweet Water river - - . - - 


42 31 


46 






22 


Sweet Water river, noon halt ... 


42 26 


10 






22 


Sweet Water river, at Rock Independence - 


43 29 


36 






23 


North fork of Platte river, mouth of Sweet Water - 


42 27 


18 






30 


Horse-shoe creek, noon halt ... 


42 24 


24 






Sept, 3 


North fork of Platte river, right bank 


42 01 


40 






4 


North fork of Platte river, near Scott's bluffs 


41 54 


38 






5 


North fork of Platte river, right bank, six miles above 












Chimney rock - - - - - 


41 43 


36 






8 


North fork of Platte river, mouth of Ash creek 


41 17 


19 






9 


North fork of Platte river, right bank 


41 14 


30 






10 


North fork ol" Platte river. Cedar blufls 


41 10 


16 






16 


Platte river, noon halt - . - - 


40 54 


31 






16 


Platte river, left bank - . . . 


40 52 


34 
38 






17 


Platte river, left bank - - . - 


40 42 







84 



CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 
Table of latitudes mid longilndes — Continued. 



[1S42. 



Date. 


Station. 


Latitude. 


Longitude. 


1842. 




Dcg. 


min 


. sec. 


Deg. min. sec. 


Sept. 18 


Platte river, left bank - _ - - 


40 


40 


21 




19 


Platte river, left bank - _ _ . 


40 


39 


44 




20 


Platte river, noon halt, left bank - - - 


40 


48 


19 




20 


Platte river, left bank . - - - 


40 


54 


02 




21 


Platte river, left banlc _ - - . 


41 


05 


37 




23 


Platte river, noon halt, left bank - - . 


41 


20 


20 




23 


Platte river, left liank _ _ . _ 


41 


22 


52 




25 


Platte river, mouth of Loup fork - - - 


41 


22 


11 




28 


Platte river, mouth of Elk Horn river 


41 


09 


34 




29 


Platte river, left, bank - . - _ 


41 


03 


15 




Oct. 2 


Bellevue, at the post of the American Fur Company, 












right bank of the Missouri river - - - 


41 


08 


24 


95 20 


4 


Left bank of the Missouri, opposite to the right bank 












of the mouth of the Platte ... 


41 


02 


11 




5 


Missouri river . - - - . 


40 


34 


08 




6 


Bertholet's island, noon halt ... 


40 


27 


08 




6 


Missouri river, mouth of Nishnabatona river 


40 


16 


40 




8 


Missouri river, left bank - _ - - 


39 


36 


03 




10 


Missouri river, mouth of the Kansas river 


39 


06 


03 





1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 85 

TABLE OF LATITUDES AND LONGITUDES.— SECOND EXPEDIDITION. 



Date. 



1843 
May 
June 



July 



30 
1 
4 
5 

10 

12 
15 
17 
19 
22 
23 
25 
28 



30 
1 
7 
15 
18 
21 
23 
30 



31 
31 

August 1 
2 

2 
3 
5 



9 

9 
10 
13 

13 
14 
15 
16 

16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
21 
22 
24 
24 
25 



Latitudes. 



Longitudes. 



38° 4'J' 41" 

39 01 16 

39 11 17 

39 08 24 

39 03 38 

39 22 12 

39 32 54 

39 37 38 

39 42 35 

39 53 59 

39 49 28 

40 05 08 
40 29 04 



40 31 02 

40 17 21 

39 43 53 

15 23 



38 

3S 52 

39 



40 

41 Qi 



10 
41 45 
16 52 



19 



41 04 06 

41 15 02 

41 23 08 

41 45 59 

41 37 16 

41 35 48 

41 35 59 

42 02 03 

42 20 06 

42 31 17 

42 19 53 

42 IS 08 

42 15 11 

41 53 5t 

41 46 54 

41 37 38 

41 29 53 

41 26 08 

41 34 24 

41 39 45 

41 53 .55 

42 03 47 
42 10 27 

42 29 05 

43 36 56 
42 39 57 



Localities. 



91° 25' 31" 

95 11 09 

95 56 30 

96 06 02 

96 24 56 

97 05 33 

98 11 41 

98 46 50 

99 22 03 
100 31 30 

100 52 00 

101 39 23 

102 44 47 



103 23 29 

104 02 00 

105 24 34 

104 58 30 

1 05 22 45 
105 25 38 
105 12 23 
105 35 17 



106 16 54 

106 47 25 

107 22 27 

107 50 07 

109 25 55 

110 05 05 



110 10 28 
110 25 06 
110 45 58 



111 10 53 



111 42 08 
111 46 00 



Elm grove. 

Small tributary to the Kansas. 

Buck creek, tributary of the Kansas. 

Elk creek, tributary of the Kansas. 

Encampment on the Smoky Hill fork, half a mile 

from its junction with the Republican. 
Tributary to the Republican fork. 
Tributary to the Ixepublican fork. 
Tributary to Solomon's fork of the Republican. 
Tributary to Solomon's fork of the Republican. 
Tributary to Ro})ublican fork. 
Prairie Dog river. Republican fork. 
Small tributai-y to the Republican. 
Encampment on a small lake in the sandy plain 
between the Rc[)ublican and South fork of the 
Platte river. 
South fork of the Platte river. 
South fork, 9 miles above mouth of Bcaver^fork. 
South fork, near Cherry creek. 
Junction of Arkansas and Boiling Spring rivers. 
Boiling Springs. 
South fork. 
St. Vrain's fort. 

High prairie, broken by buttes and boulders, with 
scattered cedars, forming dividing grounds 
between Laramie and Cache a, la Poudre 
rivers. 
Near the preceding. 
Laramie river. 

Stream discharging into a lake. 
Fork of Laramie river. 
Medicine Bow river. 
Tributary to the North fork. 
North fork of t^e Platte river. 
High plateau between the waters of the Atlantic 

and the gulf of California. 
Gap in the Sweet Water mountains. 
Sweet Water river. 
Sweet Water river. 

Near South pass, on a small affluent to the Sandy 
fork of Green river. 

Small stream, tributary to the Little Sandy river. 

Little Sandy river. 

Green river, left bank. 

Green river, near old trading post, at point where 
the road to the Columbia leaves the river. 

Black's fork of Green river. 

Black's fork. 

Small stream, tributary to Ham's fork. 

Muddy river of Ham's fork. 

Muddy river. 

Bear river. 

Bear river. 

Bear river, above Thomas's fork. 

Tullick's fork of Bear river. 

Bear river. 

Beer springs. 



86 



CAPT. FREINIOXT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

Table of latitudes and longitudes — Continued. 



Latitudes. 


Longitudes. 


42° 


07' 


18" 




^ 




42 


14 


22 




_ 




4i 


59 


31 




- 




41 


30 


21 


112» 


15' 


46" 


41 


30 


22 


112 


19 


30 


41 


15 


50 


112 


06 


43 


41 


11 


26 


112 


11 


30 


41 


10 


42 


112 


21 


05 


41 


14 


17 




- 




41 


42 


43 


112 


05 


12 


42 


12 


57 


112 


15 


04 


42 


44 


40 


112 


29 


52 


43 


01 


30 


112 


29 


54 


42 


47 


05 


112 


40 


13 


42 


29 


57 




_ 




42 


26 


21 


114 


06 


04 


42 


'38 


44 


114 


25 


04 


42 


40 


11 - 


114 


35 


12 


42 


53 


40 


114 


53 


04 


42 


55 


58 


11. 'D 


04 


46 


43 


35 


21 


115 


54 


46 


43 


40 


53 


116 


•22 


40 


43 


49 


22 


116 


47 


03 


44 


17 


36 


116 


56 


45 


44 


37 


44 


117 


09 


49 


44 


50 


32 


117 


21 


21 


44 


59 


29 


117 


29 


22 


45 


26 


47 


117 


28 


26 


4.5 


38 


07 


117 


28 


34 


45 


53 


.35 


118 


00 


39 


46 


03 


46 




- 




45 


58 


08 




- 




45 


50 


05 


119 


22 


IS 


45 


44 


23 


119 


45 


09 


45 


35 


55 


120 


55 


00 


45 


35 


21 


120 


53 


51 


45 


33 


09 


123 


06 


15 


45 


14 


24 




_ 




45 


06 


45 


121 


02 


43 


44 


3.5. 


23 


121 


10 


25 


43 


55 


20 




- 




43 


44 


15 




_ 




43 


30 


36 


121 


33 


50 


43 


17 


49 




- 




42 


56 


51 




_ 




42 


51 


26 


121 


20 


42 


42 


57 


22 




_ 




42 


42 


37 




- 




42 


23 


25 




_ 




42 


00 


09 




_ 




41 


27 


50 




_ 




41 


19 


55 




- 





Localities. 



Entrance of the beautiful pass with the remark- 
able rock. 

Branch of Roseaux or Reed river. 

Swampy place, a little distance from Roseaux 
creek. 

Bear river, near the mouth. 

Mouth of Bear river. 

Weber's fork. 

Weber's fork, very near the mouth. 

Island in the Great Salt lake. 

Halt in the Mud. 

Bear river, south of the gap — a main station. 

Roseaux or Reed river. 

Pannack river. 

Fort Hall. 

Snake river, above the American falls. 

Snake river. 

Rock creek, of Snake river. 

Snake river, opposite to the River spring. 

Snake river, 2 miles below Fishing fails. 

Snake river. 

Ford where road crosses the Snake river. 

Big Wood river, or Riviere Boisee. 

Big Wood river, or Riviere Boisee. 

Fort Boisee. 

Snake river, below Birch creek. 

Head water of Burnt river, (Riviere Brulee.) 

Old bed of Powder river. 

Powder river. 

Grand Rond. 

Blue mountains, east of the summit. 

Walahwalah river, foot of the mountains. 

Fort Ncz Perce. 

Noon halt — left bank of the Columbia. 

Left bank of the Columbia. 

Left bank of the Columbia. 

Missionary station at the Dalles of the Columbia. 

Station on hills in rear of the mission. 

Right bank of the Columbia, 15 miles below the 
cascades. 

Large br.uich of Fall river, ( Riviere aux Chutes.) 

South end of Taih prairie. 

Main branch of Fall river. 

Fall river, (Union Falls.) 

Fall rivor, (Union Falls.) 

Fall river, (Union Falls.) 

Camp in a pine forest. 

Tlamath lake. 

Tributary to the lake and head water of the 
Tlamath river. 

Summer lake. 

Summer lake. 

Christmas lake. 

Desert valley among black rocky hills. 

Camp of the 29th to 30lh. 

New-year's Eve camp. 



1844.] 



CAPT. FREMO.NT'S NARRATIVE. 
Table of latitudes and longitudes — Continued** 



87 



Date. 


Latitud 


es. 


Longitudes. 


1844. 














Jan. 3 


40 


48 


15 




- 




6 


40 


39 


46 




- 




1.5 


39 


51 


13 




- 




18 


39 


24 


16 




- 




19 


39 


19 


21 




- 




21 


39 


01 


53 




- 




22 


38 


49 


54 




- 




23 


38 


36 


19 




- 




24 


38 


24 


28 




_ 




26 


38 


18 


01 




- 




30 


33 


37 


18 




- 




Feb. 5 


38 


42 


26 




_ 




14, 19 


38 


41 


57 


120 


25 


57 


24 


38 


46 


58 


120 


34 


20 


Mar. 10,22 


38 


34 


42 




- 




25 


38 


08 


23 


121 


23 


03 


26 


38 


02 


48 


121 


16 


22 


28 


37 


42 


26 


121 


07 


13 


31 


37 


15 


43 


120 


46 


30 


April 3 


37 


22 


05 


120 


58 


03 


4 


37 


08 


00 


120 


45 


22 


5 


36 


49 


12 


120 


28 


34 


8 


36 


24 


50 


119 


41 


40 


9 


36 


08 


38 


119 


22 


02 


10 


35 


49 


10 


118 


56 


34 


13 


35 


17 


12 


118 


35 


03 


14 


35 


03 


00 


118 


18 


U9 


15 


34 


41 


42 


118 


20 


00 


18 


34 


27 


03 


117 


43 


21 


21 


34 


34 


11 


117 


13 


00 


24 


34 


56 


00 


110 


29 


19 


25 


35 


13 


08 


116 


23 


28 


29 


35 


51 


21 




- 




May 1 


35 


58 


19 




- 




3 


36 


10 


20 




_ 




5 


36 


38 


56 




- 




6 


36 


39 


33 




_ 




8 


36 


53 


03 




_ 




9 


' 36 


53 


40 




_ 




12 


37 


28 


28 




_ 




19 


38 


18 


20 




- 




23 


39 


22 


19 




_ 




24 


39 


42 


15 




_ 




27 


40 


04 


27 




_ 




28 


39 


55 


11 




_ 




29 


40 


00 


07 




_ 




30 


40 


18 


52 


112 


18 


30 


June 3 


40 


27 


45 


109 


56 


42 


5 


40 


28 


07 


109 


27 


07 


7 


40 


46 


27 




- 





Localities. 



Camp near the Mud lake. 

Camp near Great Boiline .spriny;. 

Pyramid lake, mouth of Salmon Trout river. 

Camp on a river of the Sierra Nevada. 

Camp on a river of the Sierra Nevada. 

Camp on a river of the Sierra Nevada. 

Camp on a river, near a gap. 

Camp on a .■?outhern branch of .stream of encamp- 
ment of 22d to 23d. 

Head waters of a stream. 

Camp on a large stream. 

Cam]3 on the same stream which we encamped 
upon on the night of the 18th to L9th January. 

First camp in the pass of the Sierra Nevada. 

The Long camp. 

Rio de los Americanos, (high in the mountain.) 

NuEVA Helvktia. 

Rio dc los Mukelemnes. 

Rio de las Calavcra^. 

Stanislaus river. 

Stanislaus river. 

I^arge tributary of the San Joaquiii, (no name.) 

San Joaquin river. 

San Joaquin river. 

Lake fork, (of the Tulares.) 
Sn^all stream afHuenf to the lake, (Tulares.) 
Small stream afflucut to the lake, (Tulares.) 
Near Pass creek in the mountains, (Sierra Ne- 
vada. ) 
Small stream east of the Sierra Nevada. 
Rock .spring. 
Spring heads of a stream among foot hills of the 

mountain. 
Mohahve river, on the Spanish trail from Pueblo 

de los Angeles to Santa Fe. 
Mohahve river, on the Spanish trail from Pueblo 

de los Angeles to Santa Fe. 
Agua de Tomaso, on the Spanish trail. 
Hernandez spring. 
Deep Spring hole on a river whiph loses itself in 

the sands. 
Las Vegas, (the plains.) 
Branch of the Rii> Vjr-ren. 
Rio Virgen. 
Rio Virgen. 
Rio Virgen. 
Vega-s de Santa Clara. 

.\ fine rolling prairie at the spring head of a tribu- 
tary to Sevier lake. 
Sevier river. 

First stream of Utah lake. 
Right-hand branch of Spanish fork. 
Head of Spanish fork-. 
Head of Uintah river. 
Duchesne fork. 
Uintah fort. 
Ashley's fork. 
Brown's Hole on Green river. 



88 



CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

Table of latitudes and longitudes — Continued. 



Date. 


Latitudes. 


Longitudes. 


Localities. 


1844. 












June 


8 


40° 


46' 


27" 


_ 


Green river in Brown's Hole. 




10 


41 


01 


48 


- 


Elk Head river. 




11 


41 


01 


11 


- 


Elk Head river. 




13 


41 


18 


48 


- 


Valley of the North fork of Platte, (foot of the 
mountains.) 




14 


41 


08 


16 


- 


Valley of the North fork of Platte, (higher. ) 




15 


40 


52 


44 


- 


New Park. 




16 


40 


33 


22 


- 


New Park. 




19 


39 


57 


26 


- 


Old Park, fork of Grand river. 




22 


39 


20 


24 


- 


Entrance of bayou Salade — head of Fontaine-qui- 
bouit ' South fork of the Platte ? 




26 


38 


39 


22 


- 


Small affluent to the Arkansas. 




28 


38 


23 


48 


- 


A larger affluent to the Arkansas. 




29 


38 


15 


23 


- 


Junction of Arkansas and Fontaine-qui-bbuit 
rivers. 


July 


2 


38 


02 


08 


- 


Near Bent's fort on the Arkansas river. 




9 


38 


51 


15 


- 


Smoky Hill river. 




10 


33 


52 


22 


- 


Smoky Hill river. 




13 


38 


45 


57 


- 


Smoky Hill river. 




17 


38 


42 


33 


- 


Smoky Hill river, below Pawnee village. 




19 


38 


43 


32 


98 °\r 31" 


Smoky Hill river. 




21 


38 


28 


38 


_ 


Three miles south of Smoky Hill fork. 




23 


38 


31 


38 


- 


Between Smoky Hill fork and the Santa Fe trail. 




23 


38 


33 


22 


- 


Santa Fe road. 




28 


33 


46 


50 


98 04 34 


Blackjack on the Santa Fe road. 



SECOND EXPEDITION— 1843-'44 



Washington City, March 1, 1845. 
Colonel J. J. Abert, 

Chief of the Corps of Topographical Engineers: 

Sir: In pursuance of your instructions, to connect the reconnoissance of 
1S42, which I had the honor to conduct, with the surveys of Commander 
Wilkes on the coast of the Pacific ocean, so as to give a connected survey 
of the interior of our continent, I proceeded to the Great West early in the 
spring of 1S43, and arrived, on the 17th of May, at the little town of Kan- 
sas, on the Missouri frontier, near the junction of the Kansas river with 
the Missouri river, where I was detained near two weeks in completing 
the necessary preparations for the extended explorations which my instruc- 
tions contemplated. 

My party consisted principally of Creole and Canadian French, and 
Americans, amounting in all to 39 men ; among whom you will recognise 
several of those who were with me in my first expedition, and who have 
been flivorably brought to your notice in a former report. Mr. Thomas 
Fitzpatrick, whom many years of hardship and exposure in the western 
territories had rendered familiar with a portion of the country it was de- 
signed to explore, had been selected as our guide ; and Mr. Charles Preuss, 
who had been my assistant in the previous journey, was again associated 
with me in the same capacity on the present expedition. Agreeably to your 
directions, Mr. Theodore Talbot, of Washington city, had been attached to 
the party, with a view to advancement in his profession ; and at St. Louis 
I had been joined by Mr. Frederick Dwight, a gentleman of Springfield, 
Massachusetts, who availed himself of our overland journey to visit the 
Sandwich islands and China, by way of Fort Vancouver. 

The men engaged for the service were : 

Alexis Ayot, Louis Menard, 

Francois Badeau, Louis Montreuil, 

Oliver Beaulieu, Samuel Neal, 

Baptiste Bernier, Alexis Pera, 

John A. Campbell, Francois Pera, 

John G. Campbell, James Power, 

Manuel Chapman, Raphael Proue, 

Ransom Clark, Oscar Sarpy, 

Philibert Courteau, Baptiste Tabeau, 

Michel Crclis, Charles Taplin, 

William Creuss, Baptiste Tesson, 

Clinton Deforest, Auguste Vasquez, 

Baptiste Derosier, Joseph Verrot, 

Basil Lajeunesse, Patrick White, 

Fran9ois Lajeunesse, Tiery Wright, 

Henry Lee, Louis Zindel, and 



Off capt. fremo?jt-s narrative. [1S43. 

4 

Jacob Dodson, a free young colored man of Washington city, who vol- 
unteered to accompany the expedition, and performed his duty manfully 
throughout the voyage. Two Delaware Indians — a fine-looking old man 
andhisson — were engaged to accompany the expedition as hunters, through 
the kindness of Major Cummins, the excellent Indian agent. L. Maxwell, 
who had accompanied the expedition as one of the hunters in 1842, being 
oa his way to Taos, in New Mexico, also joined us at this place. 

The party was armed generally with Hall's carbines, which, with a brass 
12-lb. howitzer, had been furnished to me from the United States arsenal at 
St. Louis, agreeably to the orders of Colonel S. W, Kearney, commanding 
the 3d military division. Three men were especially detailed for the man- 
agement of this piece, under the charge of Louis Zindel, a native of Germa- 
ny, who had been 19 years a non-commissioned oflicer of artillery in the 
Prussian army, and regularly instructed in the duties of his profession. The 
camp equipage and provisions were transported in twelve carts, drawn each 
by two mules; and a light covered wagon, mounted on good springs, had 
been provided for the safer carriage of the instruments. These were : 

One refracting telescope, by Frauenhofer. 

One reflecting circle, by Garabey. 

Two sextants, by Troughton. 

One pocket chronometer. No. 837, by Goffe, Falmouth. 

One pocket chronometer, No. 739, by Brockbank. 

One syphon barometer, by Bunten, Paris, 

One cistern barometer, by Frye & Shaw, New York, 

Six thermometers, and a number of small compasses. 

To make the exploration as useful as possible, I determined, in conform- 
y to your general instructions, to vary the route to the Rocky mountains 
from that followed in the year 1842. The route then was up the valley of 
the Great Platte river to the South Pass, in north latitude 42° ; the route 
now determined on was up the valley of the Kansas river, and to the head 
of the Arkansas, and to some pass in the mountains, if any could be found, 
at the sources of that river. 

By making this deviation from the former route, the problem of a new 
road to Oregon and California, in a climate more genial, might be solved ; 
and a better knowledge obtained of an important river, and the country it 
drained, while the great object of the expedition would find its point of 
commencement at the termination of the former, which was at that great 
gate in the ridge of the Rocky mountains called the South Pass, and on the 
lofty peak of the mountain which overlooks it, deemed the highest peak in 
the ridge, and from the opposite sides of which four great rivers take their 
rise, and flow to the Pacific or the Mississippi. 

Various obstacles delayed our departure until the morning of the 29th, 
when we commenced our long voyage ; and at the close of a day, rendered 
disagreeably cold by incessant rain, encamped about four miles beyond the 
frontier, on the verge of the great prairies. 

Resuming our journey on the 3 1st, after the delay of a day to complete 
our equipment and furnish ourselves with some of the comforts of civilized 
life, we encamped in the evening at Elm Grove, in company with several 
emigrant wagons, constituting a party which was proceeding to Upper Cal- 
ifornia, under the direction of Mr, J. B. Childs, of Missouri. The wagons 
were variously freighted with goods, furniture, and farming utensils, con- 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 91 

r 

taining among olher things an entire set of machinery for a mill which Mr. 
Chilcls designed erecting on the waters of the Sacramento river emptying 
into the bay of San Francisco. 

We were joined here by Mr. WilUam Gilpin, of Missouri, who, intendhig 
this year to visit the settlements in Oregon, had been invited to accompany 
us, and proved a useful and agreeable additioh to the party. From this en- 
campment, our route until the 3d of June Vv'as nearly the same as that de- 
scribed to you in 1S42. Trains of wagons were almost constantly in sight ; 
giving to the road a populous and animated appearance, although the great- 
er portion of the emigrants were collected at the crossing, or already on 
their march beyond the Kansas river. 

Leaving at the ford the usual emigrant road to the mountains, we 
continued our route along the southern side of the Kansas, where we 
found the country much more broken than on the northern side of the 
river, and where our progress was much delayed by the numerous small 
streams, which obliged us to make frequent bridges. On the morning of 
the 4th, we crossed a handsome stream, called by the Indians Otter creek, 
about 130 feet wide, where a flat .stratum of limestone, which forms the 
bed, made an excellent ford. We met here a small party of Kansas and 
Delaware Indians, the latter retiu'ning from a hunting and trapping expe- 
dition on the upper waters of the river ; and on the heights above were 
live or six Kansas v/omen, engaged hi digging prairie potatoes, {psnra/ea 
esculenta.) On the afternoon of the 6th, while busily engaged in crossing 
a Avooded stream, we were thrown into a little confusion by the sudden ar- 
rival of Maxwell, who entered the camp at full speed at the head of a war 
party of Osage Indians, with gay red blankets, and lieads shaved to the 
scalp lock. They had run him a distance of about nine miles, from a creek 
on which v/e had encamped the day previous, and to which he had re- 
turned in search of a runaway horse belonging to Mr. Divight, which had 
taken the homeward road, carrying with him saddle, bridle, and holster 
pistols. The Osages were probably ignorant of our strength, and, when 
they charged into the camp, drove off a number of our best horses ; but we 
were fortunately well mounted, and, after a hard chase of seven or eight 
miles, succeeded in recovering them all. This accident, which occasioned 
delay and trouble, and threatened danger and loss, and broke down some 
good horses at the start, and actually endangered the expedition, was a first 
fruit of having gentlemen in company — very estimable, to be sure, but who 
are not trained to the care and vigilance and self-dependence which such an 
expedition required, and who are not subject to the orders which enforce 
attention and exertion. W^e arrived on the Sth at the mouth of the Smoky- 
hill fork, which is the principal southern branch of the Kansas; forming 
here, by its junction with the Republican, or northern branch, the main 
Kansas river. Neither stream was fordable, and the necessity of making 
a raft, together with bad weather, detained us here until the morning of 
the nth ; when we resumed our journey along the Republican fork. By 
our observations, the junction of the streams is in latitude 39° 03' 38", longi- 
tude 96° 24' 56", and at an elevatioti of 926 feet above the gulf of Mexico. 
For several days we continued to travel along the Republican, through a 
country beautifully watered with numerous streams, liandsomely limbered; 
and rarely an incident occurred to vary the monotonous resemblance which 
one day on the prairies here bears to another, and which scarcely require 



92 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843 

a particular description. Now and then, we caught a gUmpse of a small 
herd of elk ; and occasionally a band of antelopes, whose curiosity some- 
times brought them within ritle range, would circle round us, and then 
scour off into the prairies. As we advanced on our road, these became 
more frequent ; but as we journeyed on the line usually followed by the 
trapping and hunting partie's of the Kansas and Delaware Indians, game 
of every kind continued very shy and wild. The bottoms which form the 
immediate valley of the main river were generally about three miles wide; 
having a rich soil of black vegetable mould, and, for a prairie country, well 
interspersed with wood. The country was every where covered with a 
considerable variety of grasses — occasionally poor and thin, but far more 
frequently luxuriant and rich. We had been gradually and regularly as- 
cending in our progress w«5stward, and on the evening of the 14th, when 
we encamped on a little creek in the valley of the Republican, 265 miles 
by our travelling road from the mouth of the Kansas, we were at an eleva- 
tion of 1,530 feet. That part of the river where we were now encamped is 
called by the Indians the Big Timber. Hitherto our route had been laborious 
and extremely slow, the unusually wet spring and constant rain having so 
saturated the whole country that it was necessary to bridge every water- 
course, and, for days together, our usual march averaged only five or six 
miles. Finding that at such a rate of travel it would be imposible to com- 
ply with your instructions, I determined at this place to divide the party, 
and, leaving Mr. Fitzpatrick with 25 men in charge of the provisions and 
heavier baggage of the camp, to proceed myself in advance, with a light 
party of 15 men, taking with me the howitzer and the light wagon which 
carried the instruments. 

Accordingly, on the morning of tlie 16th, the parties separated ; and, bear- 
ing a little out from the river, with a view of heading some of the numerous 
affluei^ts, after a few hours' travel over somewhat broken ground, we en- 
tered upon an extensive and high level prairie, on which we encamped to- 
wards evening at a little stream, where a single dry cottonwood afforded the 
necessary fuel for preparing supper. Among a variety of grasses which to- 
day made their first appearance, I noticed bunch grass, \festvca,) and buffalo 
grass, {se.sleria dactyloides.) Amorpha canescens {lead plant) continued 
the characteristic plant of the country, and a narrow-leaved luthyrus oc- 
curred during the morning in beautiful palches. Sida coccinea occurred 
frequently, with a psoralia near psoralia JInribunda, and a number of 
plants not hitherto met, just verging into bloom. The water on which we 
had encamped belonged to Solomon's fork of the Smoky-hill river, along 
whose tributaries we continued to travel for several days. 

The country afforded us an excellent road, the route being generally 
over high and very level prairies ; and we met with no other delay than be- 
ing frequently obliged to bridge one of the numerous streams, which were 
well timbered with ash, elm, cottonwood, and a very large oak — the latter 
being, occasionally, five and six feet in diameter, with a spreading summit. 
Sida coccinea is very frequent in vermilion-colored patches on the high 
and low prairie ; and I remarked that it has a very pleasant perfume. 

The wild sensitive plant [schrankia anguslata) occurs frequently, gen- 
erally on the dry prairies, in valleys of streams, and frequently on the broken 
prairie bank. 1 remark that the Icafiets close instantly to a very light touch. 
%fimorpha, with the same^j.sort'/t'a, and a dwarf species of luj)inus.,d>XQ the 
characteristic plants. 



1S43.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 93 

On the 19th, in the afternoon, we crossed the Pawnee road to the Ar- 
kansas, and, travelhng a few miles onward, the monotony of the prairies 
was suddenly dispelled hy the appeartince of five six or buffalo bulls, form- 
ing a vanguard of immense herds, among which we were travelling a few 
days afterwards. Prairie dogs were seen for the first time during the day; 
and we had the good fortune to obtain an antelope for supper. Our eleva- 
tion had now increased to 1,900 feet. Sic/a coccinca was a characteristic 
on the creek bottoms, and buffalo grass is becoming abundant on the higher 
parts of the ridges. 

June 21. — During the forenoon we travelled up a branch of the creekon 
which v.'e had encamped, in a broken country, where, however, the dividing 
ridges always afforded a good i\ad. Plants were few ; and with the 
short sward of the buffalo grass, which now prevailed every where, giving 
to the prairies a smooth and mossy appearance, were mingled frequent 
patches of a beautiful red grass, {aristicia pallens.) which had made its ap- 
pearance only within the last few days. 

We halted to noon at a solitary cotfonwood in a hollow, near which was 
killed the first buffalo, a large old bull. 

Antelope appeared in bands during the day. Crossing here to the afffuents 
of the Republican, v/e encamped on a fork, about forty feet wide and one 
foot deep, tlowing with a swift current over a sandy bed, and well wooded 
with ash-leaved maple, {negundo fruxinifoliian,) elm, Cottonwood, and a 
few white oaks. We were visitecl in the evening by a very violent storm, 
accompanied by wind, lightning, and thunder; a cold rain falling in torrents. 
According to the barometer, our elevation was 2,130 feet above the gulf. 

At noon, on the 23d, we descended into the valley of a principal fork of 
the Republican, a beautiful stream with a dense border of wood, consisting 
principally of varieties of ash, forty feet wide and four feet deep. It was mu- 
sical with the notes of many birds, which, t>om the vast expanse of silent 
prairie around, seemed all to have collected here. We continued during 
the afternoon our route along the river, which was populous with prairie 
dogs, (I he bottoms being entirely occupied with their villages,) and late in 
the evening encamped on its banks. The prevailing timber is a blue-foliaged 
ash, {fraxinus, near /"". Jlniericana,) and ash-leaved maple. With these 
\vei'efraxini(s „dtne7'ic(ina.cQUon\voo(]i,and long-leaved willow. We gave 
to this stream the name of Prairie Dog river. Elevation 2,350 feet. Our 
road on the 25th lay over high smooth ridges, 3,100 feet above the sea; 
buffalo in great numbers, absolutely covering the face of the country. At 
evening we encamped within a few miles of the main Republican, on a lit- 
tle creek, where the air was fragrant with the perfume oiartetnisia filifoUa, 
which we here saw for the first time, and which was now in bloom. Shortly 
after leaving our encampment on the 2()th, we found suddenly that the na- 
ture of the country had entirely chanijcd. Bare sand hills every where sur- 
rounded us in the undulating ground along which we were moving; and 
the plants peculiar to a sandy soil made their appearance in abundance. A 
few miles further we entered the valley of a large stream, afterwards known 
to be the Republican fork of the Kansas, whose shallow waters, with a 
depth of only a few inches, were spread out over a bed of yellowish white 
sand 600 yards wide. With the exception of one or two distant and de- 
tached groves, no timber of any kind was to be seen; and the features of 
the country assumed a desert character, with which the broad river, strug- 
gling for existence among quicksands along the treeless banks, was strik- 



94 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1S43. 

ingly in keeping. On the opposite side, the broken ridges assumed almost 
a mountainous appearance; and, fording the stream, we continued on our 
course among these ridges, and encamped late in the evening at a little pond 
of very bad water, from which we drove awa]?- a herd of buffalo that were 
standing in and about it. Our encampment this evening was 3,500 feet 
above the sea. We travelled now for several days through a broken and 
dry sandy region, about 4,000 feet above the sea, where there were no run- 
ning streams; and some anxiety was constantly felt on account of the un- 
certainty of water, which was only to be found in small lakes that occur- 
red occasionally among the hills. The discovery of these always brought 
pleasure to the camp, as around them were generally green flats, which af- 
forded abundant pasturage for our animals ; and here were usually collected 
herds of the buffalo, which now were scattered over all the country in 
countless numbers. 

The soil of bare and hot sands supported a varied and exuberant growth 
of plants, which v/ere much farther advanced than we had previously found 
them, and whose showy bloom somev/hat relieved the appearance of gene- 
ral sterility. Crossing the summit of an elevated and continuous range of 
rolling hills, on the afternoon of the 30th of June we found ourselves over- 
looking a broad and misty valley, where, about ten miles distant, and 1,000 
feet below us, the South fork of the Platte was rolling magnificently along, 
swollen v/ith the waters of the melting snows. It was in strong and re- 
freshing contrast with the parched country from which we had just issued; 
and when, at night, the broad expanse of water grew indistinct, it almost 
seemed that we had pitched our tents on the shore of the sea. 

Travelling along up the valley of the river, here 4,000 feet above the sea, 
in the afternoon of July 1 we caught a far and uncertain view of a faint 
blue mass in the west, as the sun sank behind it; and from our camp in the 
morning, at the mouth of Bijou, Long's peak and the neigliboring moun- 
tains stood out into the sky, grand and luminously white, covered to their 
bases v/ith glittering snow. 

On the evening of the 3d, as v^'e were journeying along the partially over- 
flowed bottoms of the Platte, where our passage stirred up swarms of mos- 
quitoes, we came unexpectedly upon an Indian, who was perched on a 
bluff, curiously watching the movements of our caravan. Pie belonged to 
a village of Oglallah Sioux, who had lost all their animals in the severity 
of the preceding winter, and were now on their way up the Bijou fork to 
beg horses from the Arapahoes, who were hunting buffalo at the head of 
that river. Several came into our camp at noon ; and, as they were hungry, 
as usual, they were provided with buffalo meat, of which the hunters had 
brought in an abundant supply. 

About noon, on the 4th of July, we arrived at the fort, where Mr. St. 
Vrain received us with his customary kindness, and invited us to join him 
in a feast which had been prepared in honor of the day. 

Our animals were very much worn out, and our stock of provisions en- 
tirely exhausted when v/e arrived at the fort; but I was disappointed in my 
hope of obtaining relief, as I found it in a very impoverished condition ; and 
we were able to procure only a little unbolted Mexican flour, and some 
salt, with a few pounds of powder and lead. 

As regarded provisions, it did not much matter in a country where rarely 
the day passed without seeing some kind of game, and where it was fre- 
quently abundant. It was a rare thing to lie down hungry, and we had al- 



1843.] CAPT. FUEMONT'S NARRATIVE. 95 

ready learned to think bread a luxury ; but we could not proceed without 
animals, and our own were not capable of prosecuting tlie journey beyond 
the mountains without relief. 

I had been informed that a large number of mules had recently arrived 
at Taos, from Upper California ; and as our friend, Mr. Maxwell, was 
about to continue his journey to that place, where a portion of his family 
resided, I engaged him to purchase for me 10 or 12 mules, with the un- 
derstanding tiiat he should pack them with provisions and other necessa- 
ries, and meet me at the mouth of the Fontaine qui boiiit, on the Arkan- 
sas river, to which point I would be led in the course of the survey. 

Agreeably to his own request, and in the conviction that his habits of 
life and education had not qualified him to endure the hard life of a voy- 
ageur, I discharged here one of my party, Mr. Oscar Sarpy, having furnished 
him with arms and means of transportation to Fort Laramie, where he 
would be in the line of caravans returning to the States. 

At daybreak, on the 6th of July, Maxwell was on his way to Taos ; and 
a few hours after we also had recommenced our journey up the Platte, 
which was continuously timbered with cottonv/ood and willow, on a gen- 
erally sandy soil. Passing on the way the remains of two abandoned 
forts, (one of which, however, was still in good condition,) we reached, in 
10 miles, Fort Lancaster, the trading esuiblishment of Mr. Lupton. His post 
was beginning to assume the appearance of a comfortable farm : stock, hogs, 
and cattle, were ranging about on the prairie ; there were different kinds 
of poultry ; and there was the wreck of a promising garden, in which a 
considerable variety of vegetables had been in a flourishing condition, but 
it had been almost entirely ruined by the recent high waters. I remained 
to spend with him an agreeable hour, and sat off in a cold storm of rain, 
which was accompanied with violent tlunider and lightning. We encamped 
immediately on the river, 16 miles from St. Vrain's. Several Arapahoes. 
on their way to the village which was encamped a few miles above us. 
passed by the camp in the course of the afternoon. Night sat in stormy 
and cold, with heavy and continuous rain, which lasted until morning. 

July 7. — We made this morning an early start, continuing to travel up 
the Platte ; and in a few miles frequent bands of horses and mules, scatter- 
ed for several miles round about, indicated our approach to the Arapaho 
village, which we found encamped in a beautiful bottom, and consisting (ii 
about 160 lodges. It appeared extremely populous, with a great number 
of children; a circumstance which indicated a regular supply of the means 
of subsistence. The chiefs, who were gathered together at the farther end 
of the village, received us (as probably strangers are always received to 
whom they desire to show respect or regard) by tlirowing tlieir arms around 
our necks and embracing us. 

It required some skill in horsemanship to keep the saddle during the per- 
formance of this ceremony, as our American horses exhibited for them the 
same fear they have for a bear or any other wild animal. Having very few 
goods with me, I was only able to make them a meager present, accounting 
for the poveriy of the gift by explaining that my goods had been left with 
the wagons in charge of Mr. Fitzpatrick, who was well known to them as 
the \Sniite Head, or the Broken Hand. I saw here, as I had remarked in 
an Arapaho village the preceding year, near the lodges of the chiefs, tall 
tripods of white poles supporting their spears and shields, which showed it 
to be a regular custom. 



96 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1S43. 

Though disappointed in obtaining the presents which had been evident- 
ly expected, they behaved very courteously, and, after a little conversation, 
I left them, and, conthuiing on up the river, halted to noon on the bluff, 
as the bottoms are almost inundated; continuing in the afternoon our 
route along the mountains, which were dark, misty, and shrouded — threat- 
ening a storm ; the snow peaks sometimes glittering through the clouds be- 
yond the first ridge. 

We surprised a grizzly bear sauntering along the river ; which, raising 
himself upon his hind legs, took a deliberate survey of us, that did not ap- 
pear very satisfactory to him, and he scrambled into the river and swam 
to the opposite side. We halted for the night a little above Cherry creek ; 
the evening cloudy, with many mosquhoes. Some indifferent observations 
placed the camp in latitude 39° 43' 53", and chronometric longitude 105° 
24' 34". 

Julij s. — We continued to-day to travel up the Platte; the morning pleas- 
ant, with a prospect of fairer weather. During the forenoon our way lay 
over a more broken country, with a gravelly and sandy surface ; although 
the immediate bottom of the.river was a good soil, of a dark, sandy mould, 
resting upon a stratum of large pebbles, or rolled stones, as at Laramie fork. 
On our right, and apparently very near, but probably Sor 10 miles distant, 
and two or three thousand feet above us, ran the first range of the moun- 
tains, like a dark corniced line, in clear contrast v/ith the great snowy chain 
■which, immediately beyond, rose glittering five thousand feet above them. 
AVe caught this morning a view of Pike's peak : but it appeared for a mo- 
ment only, as clouds rose early over the mountains, and slirouded them in 
mist and rain all the day. In the first range were visible, as at the Red 
Buttes on the North fork, very lofty escarpments of red rock. While trav- 
ellins: through this region, 1 remarked that always in the morning the lofty 
pealis were visible and bright, but very soon small white clouds began to 
settle around them — brewing thicker and darker as the day advanced, until 
the afternoon, when the thunder began to roll ; and invariably at evening 
we had more or less of a thunder storm. At II o'clock, and 21 miles from 
St. Vrain's fort, we reached a point in this southern fork of the Platte, where 
the stream is divided into three forks; two of these (one of them being much 
the largest) issuing directly from the mountains on the west, and forming, 
with the easternmost branch, a river of the plains. ''I'he elevation of this 
point is about 5,500 feet above the sea ; this river faUing 2,800 feet in a 
distance of 316 miles, to its junction with the North fork of the Platte. In 
this estimate, the elevation of the junction is assumed as given by our bar- 
ometrical observations in 1S42. 

On the easternmost branch, up v/hich we took our way, we first came 
among the pines growing on the top of a very high bank, and where we 
halted on it to noon ; quaking asp [pnpuhis treynuloides) was mixed with 
the Cottonwood, and there were excellent grass and rushes for the animals. 

During the morning there occurred many beautiful flowers, which we 
had not hitherto met. Among them, the common blue flowering flax made 
its first appearance ; and a tall and handsome species oi gilia, with slender 
scarlet flowers, which appeared yesterday for the first time, was very fre- 
quent to-day. 

We had found very little game since leaving the fort, and provisions be- 
gan to get unpleasantly scant, as we had had no meat for several days ; but 
towards sundown, when we had already made up our minds to sleep another 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 97 

night without supper, Lajeunesse had the good fortune to kill a fine deer, 
which he found feeding in a hollow near by ; and as the rain began to fall, 
threatening an unpleasant night, we hurried to secure a comfortable camp 
in the timber. 

To-night the camp fires, girdled with appolas of fine venison, looked 
cheerful in spite of the stormy weather. 

July 9. — On account of the low state of our provisions and the scarcity 
of game, I determined to vary our route, and proceed several camps to the 
eastward, in the hope of falling in with the buffalo. This route along the 
dividing grounds between the South fork of the Platte and the Arkaiisas, 
would also aflbrd some additional geographical information. This morning, 
therefore, we turned to the eastward, along the upper waters of the stream 
on which we had encamped, entering a country of picturesque and varied 
scenery ; broken into rocky hills of singular shapes ; little valleys, with 
pure crystal water, here leaping swiftly along, and there losing itself in the 
sands; green spots of luxuriant grass, flowers of all colors, and timber of 
different kinds — every thing to give it a varied beauty, except game. To 
one of these remarkably shaped hills, having on the summit a circular 
flat rock two or three hundred yards in circumference, some one gave the 
name of Poundcake, which it has been permitted to retain, as our hungry 
people seemed to think it a very agreeable comparison. In the afternoon 
a buffalo bull was killed, and we encamped on a small stream, near the 
road which runs from St. Vrain's fort to the Arkansas. 

July 10. — Snow fell heavily on the mountains during the night, and 
Pike's peak this morning is luminous and grand, covered from the summit, 
as low down as we can see, with glittering white. Leaving the encamp- 
ment at 6 o'clock, we continued our easterly course over a rolling country, 
near to the high ridges, which are generally rough and rocky, with a coarse, 
conglomerate displayed in masses, and covered with pines. This rock is 
very friable, and it is undoubtedly from its decomposition that the prairies 
derive their sandy and gravelly formation. In 6 miles we crossed a head 
water of the Kioway river, on which we found a strong fort and cord/ that 
had been built in the spring, and halted to noon on the principal branch of 
the river. During the morning our route led over a dark vegetable mould, 
mixed with sand and gravel, the characteristic plant being esparcette, (ono- 
brychis saliva,) a species of clover which is much used in certain parts of 
Germany for pasturage of stock — principally hogs. It is sown on rocky 
waste ground, which would otherwise be useless, and grows very luxu- 
riantly, requiring only a renewal of the seed about once in fifteen years. 
Its abundance here greatly adds to the pastoral value of this region. A 
species of antennaria in flower was very common along the line of road, 
and the creeks were timbered with willow and pine. We encamped on 
Bijou's fork, the water of which, unlike the clear streams we had previously 
crossed, is of a whitish color, and the soil of the bottom a very hard, tough 
clay. There was a prairie dog village on the bottom, and, in the endeavor 
to unearth one of the little animals, we labored ineffectually in the tough 
clay until dark. After descending, with a slight inclination, until it had 
gone the depth of two feet, the hole suddenly turned at a sharp angle in 
another direction for one more foot in depth, when it again turned, taking 
an ascending direction to the next nearest hole. I have no doubt that all 
their little habitations communicate with each other. The greater part of 



98 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

the people were sick to-day, and I was inclined to attribute their indispo- 
sition to the meat of the bull which had been killed the previous day. 

July 11. — There were no indications of buffalo having been recently in 
the neighborhood; and, unwilling to travel farther eastward, I turned this 
morning to the southward, up the valley of Bijou. Esparcette occurred 
universally, and among the plants on the river I noticed, for the first time 
during this journey, a {e\Y small bushes of the absinthe of the voyageurs, 
which is commonly used for fire wood, (arlemisia tridentaia. ) Yesterday 
and to-day the road has been ornamented with the showy bloom of a beau- 
tiful hipinus, a characteristic in many parts of the mountain region, on 
which were generally great numbers of an insect with very bright colors, 
{litta vesicatorid.) 

As we were riding quietly along, eagerly searching every hollow in 
search of game, we discovered, at a little distance in the prairie, a large 
grizzly bear, so busily engaged in digging roots that he did not perceive us 
until we were galloping down a little hill fifty yards from him, when he 
charged upon us with such sudden energy, that several of us came near 
losing our saddles. Being wounded, he commenced retreating to a rocky 
piney ridge near by, from which we were not able to cut him off, and we 
entered the timber with him. The way was very much blocked up with 
fallen timber ; and we kept up a running figlit for some time, animated by 
the bear charging among the horses. He did not fall until after he had 
received six rifle balls, lie was miserably poor, and added nothing to our 
stock of provisions. 

We followed the stream to its head in a broken ridge, which, according 
to the barometer, was about 7,600 feet above the sea. This is a piney ele- 
vation, into which the prairies are gathered, and from which the waters 
flow, in almost every direction, to the Arkansas, Platte, and Kansas rivers ;. 
the latter stream having here its remotest sources. Although somewhat 
rocky and broken, and covered with pines, in comparison with the neigh- 
boring mountains, it scarcely forms an interruption to the great prairie 
plains which sweep up to their bases. 

We had an excellent view of Pike's peak from this camp, at the dis- 
tance of 40 miles. This mountain barrier presents itself to travellers on 
the plains, which sweep almost directly to its bases — an immense and com- 
paratively smooth and grassy prairie, in very strong contrast with the black 
masses of timber, and the glittering snow above them. With occasional 
exceptions, comparatively so very small as not to require mention, these 
prairies are every where covered with a close and vigorous growth of a 
great variety of grasses, among which the most abundant is the buffalo grass, 
{sesleria dactyloidts.) Between the Platte and Arkansas rivers, that part 
of this region which forms the basin drained by the waters of the Kansas, 
with which our operations made us more particularly acquainted, is based 
upon a formation of calcareous rocks. The soil of all this country is ex- 
cellent, admirably adapted to agricultural purposes, and would support a 
large agricultural and pastoral population. A glance at the map, along 
our several lines of travel, will show you that this plain is watered 
by many streams. Throughout the western half of the plain, these are 
shallow^ with sandy beds, becoming deeper as they reach the richer 
lands approaching the Missouri river ; they generally have bottom lands,, 
bordered by bluffs varying from 50 to 500 feet in height. In all this 



1343.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 99 

region the timber is entirely confined to the .streams. In the eastern half, 
where the soil is a deep, rich, vegetable mould, retentive of rain and moist- 
ure, It is of vigorous growth, and of many different kinds ; and throughout 
the western half it consists entirely of various speciesof cotton wood, which 
deserves to be called the tree of the desert — growing in sandy soils, where 
no other tree will grow ; pointing out the existence of water, and furnishing 
to the traveller fuel, and ibod for his animals. Add to this, that the western 
border of the plain is occupied by the Sionx, Arapaho, and Cheyenne na- 
tions, and the Pawnees and other half-civilized tribes in its eastern limits, 
for whom the intermediate country is a war ground, you will have a toler- 
ably correct idea of the appearance and condition of the country. De- 
scending a somewhat precipitous and rocky hill side among the pines, whi'-.h 
rarely appear elsewhere than on the ridge, we encamped at its foot, where 
there were several springs, which you will find laid down upon the map as 
one of the extreme sources of the Smoky Hill fork of the Kansas. From this 
place the view extended over the Arkansas valley, and the Spanisli peaks 
in the south beyond. As the greater part of the men continued sick, I 
encamped here for the day, and ascertained conclusively, from experiments 
on myself, that their illness was caused by the meat of the buffalo bull. 

On the summit of the ridge, near the camp, were several rock-built forts, 
which in front were very ditficult of approach, and in the rear were pro- 
tected by a precipice entirely beyond the reach of a rifle ball. The even- 
ing was tolerably clear, with a temperature at sunset of 63°. Elevation of 
the camp 7,300 feet. 

Turning the next day to the southwest, we reached, in the course of 
the morning, the wagon road to the settlements on the Arkansas river, and 
encamped in the afternoon on the Fontaine-qui-boiiit (or Boiling Spring) 
river, where it was 50 feet wide, with a swift current. I afterwards found 
that the spring and river owe their names to the bubbling of the etTerves- 
cing gas in the former, and not to the temperature of the water, which is 
cold. During the morning, a tall species of gilia, with a slender white 
flower, was characteristic; and, in the latter part of the day, another vari- 
ety oi esparcette, (wild clover,) having the flower white, was equally so. 
We had a fine sunset of golden brown ; and, in the evening, a very bright 
moon, with the near mountains, made a beautiful scene. Thermometer, at 
sunset, was 69°, and our elevation above the sea 5,800 feet. 

July 13. — The morning was clear, with a northwesterly breeze, and the 
thermometer at sunrise at 46^. There were no clouds along the moun- 
tains, and the morning sun showed very clearly their rugged character. 

We resumed our journey very early down the river, following an ex- 
tremely good lodge trail, which issues by the head of this stream from the 
bayou Salade, a high mountain valley behind Pike's peak. The soil along 
the road was sandy and gravelly, and the river well timbered. We halted 
to noon under the shade of some fine large cottonwoods, our animals lux- 
uriating on rushes {equiselinii hyemak,) which, along this river, were re- 
markably abundant. A variety of cactus made its appearance, and among 
several strange plants were numerous and beautiful clusters of a plant 
resembling mirabilis jalapa, with a handsome convolvulus I had not 
hitherto seen, [calystegia.) In the afternoon we passed near the encamp- 
ment of a hunter named Maurice, who had been out into the plains in pur- 
suit of bufl'alo calves, a number of which I saw among some domestic cat- 



ilOO CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

tie near his lodge. Shortly afterwards, a party of mountaineers galloped 
up to us — fine-looking and hardy men, dressed in skins and mounted on 
good fat horses ; among them were several Connecticut men, a portion of 
Wyeth's party, whom I had seen the year before, and others v/ere men 
:&om the western States. 

Continuing down the river, we encamped at noon on the 14th at its 
mouth, on the Arkansas river. A short, distance above our encampment, 
on the left bank of the Arkansas, is a pueblo, (as the Mexicans call their 
civilized Indian villages,) where a number of mountaineers, who had mar- 
ried Spanish women in the valley of Taos, had collected together, and oc- 
cupied themselves in farming, carrying on at the same time a desultory In- 
dian trade. They were principally Americans, and treated us with ail the 
rade hospitality their situation admitted ; but as all commercial intercourse 
with New Mexico was now interrupted, in consequence of Mexican de- 
cieesto that effect, there was nothing to be had in the way of provisions. 
They had, however, a fine stock of cattle, and furnished us an abundance 
of excellent milk. I learned here that Maxwell, in company with two 
olhei men, had started for Taos on the morning of the 9th, but that he 
■would probably fall into the hands of tlie Utah Indians, commonly called. 
ihe Spanish Yuies. As Maxwell had no knowledge of their being in the 
•yicmity when he crossed the Arkansas, his chance of escape was very 
doubtful ; but I did not entertain much apprehension for his life, having 
great confidence in his prudence and courage. I was further informed that 
ihere had been a popular tumult among iha pueblos, or civilized Indians, 
residing near Taos, against the '^ foreigners^ ^ of that place, in which they 
2!!ad plundered their houses and ill-treated their families. Among those 
"whose property had been destroyed, was Mr. Beaubien, father-in-law of 
Maxwell, from whom I had expected to obtain supplies, and who had 
been obliged to make his escape to Santa Fe. 

By this position of affairs, our expectation of obtaining supplies from 
Taos was cut off. I had here the satisfaction to meet our good buffalo 
^nnter of 1842, Christopher Carson, whose services I considered myself 
foitunate to secure again ; and as a reinforcement of mules was absolutely 
secessary, I despatched him immediately, with an account of our necessi- 
ties, 10 Mr. Charles Bent, whose principal post is on the Arkansas river, 
about 75 miles below Fontaine-qui-bouit . He was directed to proceed 
ijrom that post by the nearest route across the country, and meet me with 
"what animals he should be able to obtain at St. Vrain's fort. I also ad- 
B'iitted into the party Charles Towns — a native of St. Louis, a serviceable 
sjan, with many of the qualities of a good voyageur. According to our ob- 
scTvations, the latitude of the mouth of the river is 3S^ 15' 23"; its longi- 
tuuJe 104° 58' 30"; and its elevation above the sea 4,880 feet. 

On the morning of the 16th, the time for Maxwell's arrival having ex- 
pired, we resumed our journey, leaving for him a note, in which it was 
slated that I would wait for him at St. Vrain's fort until the morning of the 
.26th, in the event that he should succeed in his commission. Our direction 
was up the Boiling Spring river, it being my intention to visit the celebrated 
springs from which the river takes its name, and which are on its upper 
■waters, at the foot of Pike's peak. Our animals fared well while we were 
©D this stream, there being every where a great abundance of prele. Ipo- 
mea lepiophylla, in bloom, was a characteristic plant along the river, gen- 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. lO'. 

erally in large bunches, with two to five flowers on each. Beautiful clus- 
ters of the plant resembling mirabilis jalapa were numerous, and gly- 
cyrrhiza lepidota was a characteristic of the bottoms Currants nearly 
ripe were abundant, and among the shrubs which covered the bottom wa.- 
a very luxuriant growth of chenopodiaceous shrubs, four to six feet high. 

On the afternoon of the 17th we entered among the broken ridges at i\v: 
foot of the mountains, where the river made several forks. Leaving the 
camp to follow slowly, I rode ahead in the afternoon in searcli of the springs. 
In the mean time, the clouds, which had been gathered all the afternoon ov^er 
the mountains, began to roll down their sides ; and a storm so violent burs' 
upon me, that it appeared I had entered the storehouse of the thunder 
storms. I continued, however, to ride along up the river until about sunseS- 
and was beginning to be doubtful of finding the springs before the nex'. 
day, when 1 came suddenly upon a large smooth rock about twenty yards 
in diameter, where the water from several springs was bubbling and boilins: 
up in the midst of a white incrustation with which it had covered a portlof- 
of the rock. As this did not correspond with a description given me by ih 
hunters, I did not stop to taste the water, but, dismounting, walked a liti!- 
way up the river, and, passing through a narrow thicket of shrubbery bor- 
dering the stream, stepped directly upon a huge white rock, at the foot o 
which the river, already become a torrent, foamed along, broken by a smai 
fall. A deer which had been drinking at the spring was startled by m] 
approach, and, springing across the river, bounded off up the mountai:; 
In the upper part of the rock, which had apparently been formed by dep> 
sition, was a beautiful white basin, overhung by currant bushes, in whici 
the cold clear water bubbled up, kept in constant motion by the escapiii- 
gas, and overflowing the rock, which it had almost entirely covered wii 
a smooth crust of glistening white. I had all day refrained from drink 
ing, reserving myself for the spring ; and as I could not well be more we , 
than the rain had already made me, I lay down by the side of the basin, 
and drank heartily of the delightful water. The spring is situated imiti'- 
diately at the foot of lofty mountains, beautifully timbered, which sweo 
closely round, shutting up the little valley in a kind of cove. As it w: 
beginning to grow dark, I rode quickly down the river, on which I fouu 
the camp a few miles below. 

The morning of the ISth was beautiful and clear, and, all the peopl 
being anxious to drink of these famous waters, we encamped immediate' v 
at the spring.^, and spent there a very pleasant day. On the opposite sic 
of the river is another locality of springs, which are entirely of the sam 
nature. The water has a very agreeable taste, which Mr. Preuss found verv 
mttch to resemble that of the famous Selter springs in the grand duchy •'; 
Nassau, a country famous for wine and mineral waters; and it is alnio.^ 
entirely of the same character, though still more agreeable than that of th 
famous Bear springs, near Bear river of the Great Salt lake. The follo\r 
ing is an analysis of an incrustation with which the water had covered 
piece of wood lying on the rock : 

Carbonate of lime _ . . - - 92.25 

Carbonate of magnesia - - - - - 1.21 

Sulphate of lime ^ 

Chloride of calcium v • - - - - .23 

Chloride of mas-nesia S 



102 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1S43. 

Silica ....... 1.50 

Vegetable matter ------ .20 

Moisture and loss - - - - - 4.61 



100.00 



At 11 o'clock, when the temperature of the air was 73% that of the 
water in this was 60.5°; and that of the upper spring, which issued from 
the flat rock, more exposed to the sun, was 69^ Atsmiset, when the tem- 
perature of the air was 66"^, that of the lower springs was 58"^, and that of 
the upper 61°. 

July 19. — A beautiful and clear morning, with a slight breeze from the 
northwest ; the temperature of air at sunrise being 57.5°. At this time 
the temperature of the lower spring was 57.8°. and that of the upper 
54.3°. 

The trees in the neighborhood were birch, willow, pine, and an oak re- 
sembling quercus alba. In the shrubbery along the river are currant bushes, 
(ribes,) of which the fruit has a singular piney flavor ; and on the mountain 
side, in a red gravelly soil, is a remarkable coniferous tree, (perhaps an 
abies,) having the leaves singulary long, broad, and scattered, with bushes 
of spirxa uriwfolia. By our observations, this place is 6,350 feet above 
the sea, in latitude 38° 52' 10", and longitude 105^ 22' 45". 

Resuming our journey on this morning, we descended the river, in order 
to reach the mouth of the eastern fork, which 1 proposed to ascend. The 
left bank of the river here is very much broken. There is a handsome 
little bottom on the right, and both banks are exceedingly ])icturesque — 
strata of red rock, in nearly perpendicular walls, crossing the valley from 
north to south. About three miles below the springs, on the right bank of 
the river, is a nearly perpendicular limestone rock, presenting a uniformly 
unbroken surface, twenty to forty feet high, containing very great numbers 
of a large univalve shell, which appears to belong to the genus inoceramiis. 

In contact with this, to the westward, was another stratum of limestone, 
containing fossil shells of a diflerent character; and still higher up on the 
stream were parallel strata, consisting of a compact somewhat crystalline 
limestone, and argillaceous bituminous limestone in thin layers. During 
the morning, we travelled up the eastern fork of the Font aine-qui-b out t 
river, our road being roughened by frequent deep gullies timbered with 
pine, and halted to noon on a small branch of this stream, timbered prin- 
cipally with the narrow-leaved cottonwood, (;;o;?i//i<5' angvstifolia,) called 
by the Canadians Hard amlre. On a hill, near by, were two remarkable 
columns of a grayish-white conglomerate rock, one of which was about 
twenty feet high, and two feet in diameter. They are surmounted by slabs 
of a dark ferruginous conglomerate, forming black caps, and adding very 
much to their columnar eflect at a distance. This rock is very destructible 
by the action of the weather, and the hill, of which they formerly consti- 
tuted a part, is entirely abraded. 

A shaft of the gun carriage was broken in the afternoon ; and we made 
an early halt, the stream being from twelve to twenty feet wide, with clear 
water. As usual, the clouds had gathered to a storm over the mountains, 
and we had a showery evening. At sunset the thermometer stood at 62°, 
and our elevation above the sea was 6.530 feet. 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 103 

July 20. — This morning (as we generally found the mornings under 
these moujitains) was very clear and beautiful, and the air cool and pleas- 
ant, with the thermometer at 44^. We continued our march up the stream, 
along a green sloping bottom, between pine hills on the one hand, and the 
main Black hills on the other, towards the ridge which separates the waters 
of the Platte from those of the Arkansas. As we approached the dividing 
ridge, the whole valley was radiant with flowers ; blue, yellow, pink, white, 
scarlet, and purple, vied with each other in splendor. Esparcette was one 
of the highly characteristic plants, and a bright-looking flower [gaillardia 
uristata) was very frequent ; but the most abundant plant alons? our road 
to-day was geranmm maculaturn, which is the characteristic plant on this 
portion of the dividing grounds. Crossing to the wafers of the Platte, fields 
of blue tlax added to the magnificence of this mountain garden; this was 
occasionally four feet in height, which was a luxuriance of growth that I 
rarely saw this almost universal plant attain throughout the journey. Con- 
tinuing down a branch of the Platte, among high and very steep timbered 
hills, covered with fragments of rock, towards evening we issued from the 
piney region, and made a late encampment near Poundcake rock, on that 
fork of the river which we had ascended on the Sth of July. Our animals 
enjoyed the abundant rushes this evening, as the flies were so bad among 
the pines that they had been much harassed. A deer was killed here this 
evening; and again the evening was overcast, and a collection of brilliant 
red clouds in the west was followed by the customary squall of rain. 

Achillea millefoliiini (milfoil) was among the characteristic plants of 
the river bottoms to-day. This was one of the most common plants during 
the whole of our journey, occurring in almost every variety of situation. 
I noticed it on the lowlands of the rivers, near the coast of the Pacific, and 
near to the snow among the mountains' of the Sierra Nevada. 

During this excursion, we had surveyed to its head one of the two prin- 
cipal branches of the upper Arkansas, 75 miles in length, and entirely 
completed our survey of the South fork of the Platte, to the extreme sources 
of that portion of the river which belongs to the plains, and heads in the 
broken hills of the Arkansas dividing ridge, at the foot of the mountains. 
That portion of its waters which were collected among these mountains, it 
was hoped to explore on our homeward voyage. 

Reaching St. Vrain's fort on the morning of the 23d, we found Mr. Fitz- 
patrick and iiis party in good order and excellent health, and my true and 
reliable friend. Kit Carson, who had brought with him ten good mules, with 
the necessary pack saddles. Mr. Fitzpatrick, who had oi'ten endured every 
extremity of want during the course of his mountain life, and knew well 
the value of provisions in this country, had watched over our stock with 
jealous vigilance, and there was an abundance of flour, rice, sugar, and 
coffee, in the camp ; and again we fared luxuriously. Meat was, however, 
\'ery scarce ; and two very small pigs, which we obtained at the fort, did 
not go far among forty men. Mr. Fitzpatrick had been here a week, dur- 
ing which time his men had been occupied in refitting the camp ; and the 
repose had been very beneficial to his animals, which were now in tolera- 
bly good condition. 

I had been able to obtain no certain information in regard to the charac- 
ter of the passes in this portion of the Rocky mountain range, which had 
always been represented as impracticable for carriages, but the exploration 
of which was incidentally contemplated by my instructions, with the view 



104 CAPT. FKEMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843.. 

of finding some convenient point of passage for the road of emigration, 
Aviiich would enable it to reach, on a more direct line, the usual ford of 
the Great Colorado — a place considered as determined by the nature of the 
country beyond that river. It is singular that, immediately at the foot of 
the mountains, I could find no one sufficiently acquainted \yith them to 
guide us to the plains at their western base ; but the race of trappers, who 
formerly lived in their recesses, has almost entirely disappeared — dwindled 
to a few scattered individuals — some one or two of whom are regularly 
killed in the course of each year by the Indians. You will remember that, 
in the previous year, I brought with me to their village near this post, and 
hospitably treated on the way, several Cheyenne Indians, whom I had met 
on the Lower Platte. Shortly after their arrival here, these were out with 
a party of Indians, (themselves the principal men,) which discovered a few 
trappers in the neighboring mountains, whom they immediately murdered, 
although one of them had been nearly thirty years in the country, and was- 
perfectly well known, as he had grown gray among them. 

Through this portion of the mountains, also, are the customary roads of 
the war parties going out against the Utah and Shoshonee Indians ; and 
occasionally parties from the Crow nation make their way down to the 
southward along this chain, in the expectation of surprising some strag- 
gling lodges of their enemies. Shortly before our arrival, one of their par- 
ties had attacked an Arapaho village in the vicinity, which they had found 
unexpectedly strong ; and their assault was turned into a rapid flight and 
a hot pursuit, in which they had been compelled to "^abandon the animals 
they had rode, and escape on their war horses. 

Into this uncertain and dangerous region, small parties of three or four 
trappers, who now could collect together, rarely ventured ; and consequently 
it was seldom visited and little known. Having determined to try the 
passage by a pass through a spur of the mountains made by the Cache-a- 
la-Poudre river, which rises in the high bed of mountains around Long's 
peak, I thought it advisable to avoid any encumbrance which would oc- 
casion detention, and accordingly again separated the party into two divi- 
sions — one of which, under the command of Mr. Fitzpatrick, was directed 
to cross the plains to the mouth of Laramie river, and, continuing thence 
its route along the usual emigrant road, meet me at Fort Hall, a post be- 
longing to the Hudson Bay Company, and situated on Snake river, as it is 
commonly called in the Oregon Territory, although better known to us as 
Lewis's fork of the Columbia. The latter name is there restricted to one 
of the upper forks of the river. 

Our Delaware Indians having determined to return to their homes, it be- 
came necessary to provide this party with a good hunter ; and I accordingly 
engaged in that capacity Alexander Godey, a young man about 25 years 
of age, who had been in this country six or seven years, all of which time 
had been actively employed in hunting for the support of the posts, or in 
solitary trading expeditions among the Indians. In courage and profes- 
sional skill he was a formidable rival to Carson, and constantly afterwards 
was among the best and most efficient of the party, and in difficult situa- 
tions was of incalculable value, Hiram Powers, one of the men belonging 
to Mr. Fitzpatrick's party, was discharged at tliis place. 

A French engag6, at Lupton's fort, had been shot in the back on the 4th 
of July, and died during our absence to the Arkansas. The wife of the 
murdered man, an Indian woman of the Snake nation, desirous, like Naomi' 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 105 

of old, to return to her people, requested and obtained permission to travel 
with my party to the neighborhood of Bear river, where she expected to 
meet with some of their villages. Happier than the Jewish widow, she 
carried with her two children, pretty little half-breeds, who added much to 
the liveliness of the camp. Her baggage was carried on five or six pack 
horses ; and I gave her a small tent, for which I no longer had any use, as 
I had procured a lodge at the fort. 

For my own party I selected the following men, a number of whom old 
associations rendered agreeable to me: 

Charles Preuss, Christopher Carson, Basil Lajeunesse, Francois Badeau, 
J. B. Bernier, Louis Menard, Raphael Prone, Jacob Dodson, Louis Zindel, 
Henry Lee, J. B. Derosier, Fran^'ois Lajeunesse, and Auguste Yasquez. 

By observation, the latitude of the post is 40° 16' 33", and its longitude 
105° 12' 23", depending, with all the other longitudes along this portion of 
the line, upon a subsequent occultation of September 13, 1843, to which 
they are referred by the chronometer. Its distance from Kansas landing, 
by the road we travelled, (which, it will be remembered, was very winding 
along the lower Kansas river,) was 750 miles. The rate of the chronometer, 
determined by observations at this place for the interval of our absence, 
during this month, was 33.72", which you will hereafter see did not sensibly 
change during the ensuing month, and remained nearly constant during 
the remainder of our journey across the continent. This was the rate used 
in referring to St. Vrain's fort, the longitude between that place and the 
mouth of the Fontaine- qui-bouit. 

Our various barometrical observations, which are better worthy of con- 
fidence than the isolated determination of 1S42, give, for the elevation of 
the fort above the sea, 4,930 feet. The barometer here used was also a 
better one, and less liable to derangement. 

At the end of two days, which was allowed to my animals for necessary 
repose, all the arrangements had been completed, and on the afternoon of 
the 26th we resumed our respective routes. Some little trouble was ex- 
perienced in crossing the Platte, the waters of which were still kept up by 
rains and melting snow ; and having travelled only about four miles, we 
encamped in the evening on Thompson's creek, where we were very much 
disturbed by musquitoes. 

The following days we continued our march westward over comparative 
plains, and, fording the Cache-d-la-Poudre on the morning of the28tli, en- 
tered the Black hills, and nooned on this stream in the mountains beyond 
them. Passing over a fine large bottom in the afternoon, we reached a 
place where the river was shut up in the hills ; and, ascending a ravine, 
made a laborious and very difficult passage around by a gap, striking the 
river again about dusk. A little labor, however, would remove this diffi- 
culty, and render the road to this point a very excellent one. The evening 
closed in dark with rain, and the mountains looked gloomy. 

July 29. — Leaving our encampment about 7 in the morning, we travelled 
until 3 in the afternoon along the river, which, for this distance of about 
six miles, runs directly through a spur of the main mountains. 

We were compelled by the nature of the ground to cross the river eight 
or nine times, at difficult, deep, and rocky fords, the stream running with 
great force, swollen by the rains — a true mountain torrent, only forty or 
fifty feet wide. It was a mountain valley of the narrowest kind — almost 
achasm; andthescenery very wild and beautiful. Towering mountains rose 



106 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843 

round about ; their sides sometimes dark with forests of pine, and sometimes 
with lofty precipices, washed by the river; while below, as if they indem- 
nified themselves in luxuriance for the scanty space, the green river bot- 
tom was covered with a wilderness of flowers, their tall spikes sometimes 
rising above our heads as we rode among them. A profusion of blossoms 
on a white flowering vine, {clematis lasianthi,) which was abundant along 
the river, contrasted handsomely with the green foliage of the trees. The 
mountain appeared to be composed of a greenish gray and red granite, which 
in some places appeared to be in a state of decomposition, making a red soil. 

The stream was wooded with cottonwood, box elder, and cherry, with 
currant and serviceberry bushes. After a somewhat laborious day, during 
which it had rained incessantly, we encamped near the end of the pass at 
the mouth of a small creek, in sight of the great Laramie plains. It con> 
tinued to rain heavily, and at evening the mountains were hid in mists; 
but there was no lack of wood, and the large fires we made to dry our 
clothes were very comfortable ; and at night the hunters came in with a 
fine deer. Rough and diflicalt as we found the pass to-day, an excellent 
road may be made with a little labor. Elevation of the camp 5,540 feet, 
and distance from St. Vrain's fort 56 miles. 

July 30. — The day was bright again ; the thermometer at sunrise 52°; 
and leaving our encampment at S o'clock, in about half a mile we crossed 
the Cdche-d-la-Poudre river {ov the last time; and, entering a smoother 
country, we travelled along a kind of vallo?i, bounded on the right by red 
buttes and precipices, while to the left a high rolling country extended to a 
range of the Black hills, beyond which rose the great mountains around 
Long's peak. 

By the great quantity of snow visible among them, it had probably snow- 
ed heavily there the previous day, while it had rained on us in the valley. 

We halted at noon on a small branch ; and in the afternoon travelled 
over a high country, gradually ascending towards a range of buttes, or 
high hills covered with pines, which forms the dividing ridge between the 
waters we had left and those of Laramie river. 

Late in the evening we encamped at a spring of cold water, near the 
summit of the ridge, having increased our elevation to 7,520 feet. During 
the day we had travelled 24 miles. By some indilierent observations, our 
latitude is 41° 02' 19". A species of hedeome was characteristic along the 
whole day's route. 

Emerging from the mountains, we entered a region of bright, fair 
weather. In my experience in this country,! was forcibly impressed with 
the different character of the climate on opposite sides of the Rocky moun- 
tain range. The vast prairie plain on the east is like the ocean ; the rain 
and clouds from the constantly evaporating snow of the mountains rushing 
down into the heated air of the plains, on which yon will have occasion to 
remark the frequent storms of rain we encountered during our journey. 

July 31. — The morning was clear ; temperature 48°. A fine rolling road, 
among piney and grassy hills, brought us this morning into a large trail 
where an Indian village had recently passed. The weather was pleasant 
and cool ; we were disturbed by neither musquitoes nor flies ; and the 
country was certainly extremely beautiful. The slopes and broad ravines 
were absolutely covered with fields of flowers of the most exquisitely beauti- 
ful colors. Among those which had not hitherto made their appearance, and 
which here were characteristic, w^as a new delphiniuiii, of a green and 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 107 

lustrous metallic blue color, mingled with compact fields of several bright- 
colored varieties of astrctguhis, which were crowded together in splendid 
profusion. This trail conducted us through a remarkable defile, to a little 
timbered creek, up which we wound our way, passing by a singular and 
massive wall of dark-red granite. The formation of the country is a red 
feldspathic granite, overlying a decomposing mass of the same rock, form- 
ing the soil of all this region, which every where is red and gravelly, and 
appears to be of a great floral fertility. 

As we emerged on a small tributary of the Laramie river, coming in 
sight of its principal stream, the flora became perfectly magnificent; and 
we congratulated ourselves, as we rode along our pleasant road, that we 
had substituted this for the uninteresting country between Laramie hills 
and the Sweet Water valley. We had no meat for supper last night or 
breakfast this morning, and were glad to see Carson come in at noon with 
a good antelope. 

A meridian observation of the sun placed us in latitude 41° 04' 06". la 
the evening, we encamped on the Laramie river, which is here very thinly 
timbered with scattered groups of cottonwood at considerable intervals. 
From our camp, we are able to distinguish the gorges, in which are the 
sources of Cache-a-la-Poudre and Laramie rivers ; and the Medicine Bow 
mountain, toward the point of which we are directing our course this after- 
noon, has been in sight the greater part of the day. By observation, the 
latitude was 41° 15' 02", and longitude 106° 16' 54". The same beautiful 
flora continued till about 4 in the afternoon, when it suddenly disappeared, 
with the red soil, which became sandy and of a whitish-gray color. The 
evening was tolerably clear; temperature at sunset 64°. The day's jour- 
ney was 30 miles. 

^^luguff 1. — The morning was calm and clear, with sunrise temperature 
at 42°. We travelled to-day over a plain, or open rolling country, at the 
foot of the Medicine Bow mountain; the soil in the morning being sandy, 
with fragments of rock abundant ; and in the afternoon, when we ap- 
proached closer to the mountain, so stony that we made but little way. 
The beautiful plants of yesterday reappeared occasionally ; flax in bloom 
occurred during the morning, and esparcette in luxuriant abundance was a 
characteristic of the stony ground in ihe afternoon. The camp was roused 
into a little excitement by a chase after a buflalo bull, and an encounter 
with a war party of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians about 30 strong. Hares 
and antelope were seen during the day, and one of the latter was killed. 
The Laramie peak was in sight this afternoon. The evening was 
clear, with scattered clouds: temperature 62°. The day's journey was 26 
miles. 

August 2. — Temperature at sunrise 52°, and scenery and weather made 
our road to-day delightful. The neighboring mountain is thickly studded 
with pines, intermingled with the brighter foliage of aspens, and occasional 
spots like lawns between the patches of snow among the pines, and here 
and there on the heights. Our route below lay over a comparative plain, 
covered with the same brilliant vegetation, and the day was clear and pleas- 
antly cool. During the morning, we crossed many streams, clear and rocky, 
and broad grassy valleys, of a strong black soil, washed down from the 
mountains, and producing excellent pasturage. These were timbered with 
the red willow and long-leaved cottonwood, mingled with aspen, as we ap- 
proached the mountain more nearly towards noon. Esparcette was a char- 



108 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

acteristic, and flax occurred frequently in bloom. We halted at noon on 
the most western fork of Laramie river — a handsome stream about sixty 
feet wide and two feet deep, with clear water and a swift current, over a 
bed composed entirely of boulders or roll stones. There was a large open 
bottom here, on which were many lodge poles lying about; and in the 
edge of the surrounding timber were three strong forts, that appeared to 
have been recently occupied. At this place I became first acquainted with 
the yampah, {anethum. graveolens,) which I found our Snake woman en- 
gaged in digging in the low timbered bottom of the creek. Among the In- 
dians along the Rocky mountains, and more particularly among the Sho- 
shonee or Snake Indians, in Avhose territory it is very abundant, this is 
considered the best among the roots used for food. To us, it was an in- 
teresting plant — a little link between the savage and civilized life. Here, 
among the Indians, its root is a common article of food, which they take 
pleasure in offering to strangers ; while with us, in a considerable portion 
of America and Europe, the seeds are used to flavor soup. It grows more 
abundantly, and in greater luxuriance, on one of the neighboring tributa- 
ries of the Colorado than in any other part of this region ; and on that 
stream, to which the Snakes are accustomed to resort every year to procure 
a supply of their favorite plant, they have bestowed the name of Yampak 
river. Among the trappers, it is generally known as Little Snake river j 
but in this and other instances, where it illustrated the history of the peo- 
ple inhabiting the country, I have preferred to retain on the map the abo- 
riginal name. By a meridional observation, the latitude is 41° 45' 59". 

In the afternoon we took our way directly across the spurs from the 
point of the mountain, where we had several ridges to cross ; and, al- 
though the road was not rendered bad by the nature of the ground, it was 
made extremely rough by the stiff tough bushes of arfe?nisia trideutata* 
in this country commonly called sage. 

This shrub now began to make its appearance in compact fields ; and 
we were about to quit for a long time this country of excellent pasturage 
and brilliant flowers. Ten or twelve buffalo bulls were seen during the 
afternoon ; and we were surprised by the appearance of a large red ox. 
We gathered around him as if he had been an old acquaintance, with all 
our domestic feelings as much awakened as if we had come in sight of an 
old farm house. He had probably made his escape from some party of 
emigrants on Green river; and, with a vivid remembrance of some old 
green field, he was pursuing the straightest course for the frontier that the 
country admitted. We carried him along with us as a prize; and, when 
it was found in the morning that he had wandered off, I would not let him 
be pursued, for I would rather have gone through a starving time of three 
entire days, than let him be killed after he had successfully run the gaunt- 
let so far among the Indians. I have been told by Mr. Bent's people of 
an ox born and raised at St. Vrain'sfort, which made his escape from them 
at Elm grove, near the frontier, having come in that year with the wagons. 
They were on their way out, and saw occasionally places where he had 
eaten and lain down to re.st ; but did not see him for about 700 miles, when 
they overtook him on the road, travelling along to the fort, having unac- 
countably escaped Indians and every other mischance. 



* The greater portion of our subsequent journey was through a region where this shrub consti- 
tuted the tree of the country ; and, as it will often be mentioned in occasional descriptions, the word 
artemisia only will be used, without the specific name. 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 109 

We encamped at evening on the principal fork of jSIedicine Bow river, 
near to an isolated mountain called the Medicine Butte, which appeared to 
be about 1,800 feet above the plain, from which it rises abruptly, and was 
still white, nearly to its base, with a great quantity of snow. The streams 
were timbered with the long-leaved cottonwood and red willow ; and dur- 
ing the afternoon a species of onion was very abundant. I obtained here 
an immersion of the first satellite of Jupiter, which, corresponding very 
nearly with the chronometer, placed us in longitude 106° 47' 25". The 
latitude, by observation, was 41° 37' 16"; elevation above the sea, 7,800 
feet; and distance from St. Vrain's fort, 147 miles. 

Jiugust 3. — There was a white frost last night ; the morning is clear and 
cool. We were early on the road, having breakfasted before sunrise, and 
in a few miles travel entered the pass of the Medicine fit/^tV, through which 
led a broad trail, which had been recently travelled by a very large party. 
Immediately in the pass, the road was broken by ravines, and we were 
obliged to clear a way through groves of aspens, which generally made 
their appearance when we reached elevated regions. According to the ba- 
rometer, this was 8,300 feet ; and while we were detained in opening a 
road, I obtained a meridional observation of the sun, which gave 41° 35' 
48" for the latitude of the pass. The Medicine Butte'is isolated by a small 
tributary of the North fork of the Platte, but the mountains approach each 
other very nearly ; the stream running at their feet. On the south they 
are smooth, with occasional streaks of pine ; but the butte itself is ragged, 
with escarpments of red feldspathic granite, and dark with pines ; the snow 
reaching from the summit to within a few hundred feet of the trail. The 
granite here was more compact and durable than that in the formation 
which we had passed through a few days before to the eastward of Lara- 
mie. Continuing our way over a plain on the Avest side of the pass, where 
the road was terribly rough with artemisia, we made our evening encamp- 
ment on the creek, where it took a northern direction, unfavorable to the 
course we were pursuing. Bands of buffalo were discovered as we came 
down upon the plain ; and Carson brought into the camp a cow which had 
the fat on the fleece two inches thick. Even in this country of rich pas- 
turage and abundant game, it is rare that the hunter chances upon a finer 
animal. Our voyage had already been long, but this was the first good 
buffalo meat we had obtained. We travelled to-day 26 miles. 

^^iigust 4. — The morning was clear and calm ; and, leaving the creek, 
we travelled towards the North fork of the Platte, over a plain which was 
rendered rough and broken by ravines. With the exception of some thin 
grasses, the sandy soil here was occupied almost exclusively by artemisia, 
with its usual turpentine odor. We had expected to meet with some diffi- 
culty in crossing the river, but happened to strike it where there was a very 
excellent ford, and halted to noon on the left bank, 200 miles from St. 
Vrain's fort. The hunters brought in pack animals loaded with fine meat. 
According to our imperfect knowledge of the country, there should have 
been a small affluent to this stream a few miles higher up : and in the after- 
noon we continued our way among the river hills, in the expectation of en- 
camping upon it in the evening. The ground proved to be so exceedingly 
difficult, broken up into hills, terminating in escarpments and broad ravines, 
500 or 600 feet deep, with sides so precipitous that we could scarcely find 
a place to descend, that, towards sunset, I turned directly in towards the 
river, and, after nightfall, entered a sort of ravine. We were obliged to feel 



110 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

our way, and clear a road in the darkness ; the surface being much broken, 
and the progress of the carriages being greatly obstructed by the artemisia, 
which had a luxuriant growth of four to six feet in height. We had 
scrambled along this gully for several hours, during which we had knocked 
off the carriage lamps, broken a thermometer and several small articles, 
when, fearing to lose something of more importance, I halted for the night 
at 10 o'clock. Our animals were turned down towards the river, that they 
might pick up what little grass they could find ; and tifter a little search, 
some water was found in a small ravine, and improved by digging. We 
lighted up the ravine with fires of artemisia, and about midnight sat down 
to a supper which we were hungry enough to find delightful — although 
the buffalo meat was crusted with sand, and the coffee was bitter with the 
wormwood taste of the artemisia leaves. 

A successful day's hunt had kept our hunters occupied until late, and 
they slept out, but rejoined us at daybreak, when, finding ourselves only 
about a mile from the river, we followed the ravine down, and camped in a 
Cottonwood grove on a beautiful grassy bottom, where our animals indem- 
nified themselves for the scanty fare of the past night. It was quite a pretty 
and pleasant place ; a narrow strip of prairie about five hundred yards long 
terminated at the ravine where we entered by high precipitous hills closing 
in upon the river, and at the upper end by a ridge of low rolling hills. 

In the precipitous bluffs were displayed a succession of strata containing 
fossil vegetable remains, and several beds of coal. In some of the beds the 
coal did not appear to be perfectly mineralized ; and in some of the seams, 
it was compact and remarkably lustrous. In these latter places there were 
also thin layers of a very fine white salts, in y)Owder. As we had a large 
supply of meat in the camp, which it was necessary to dry, and the sar- 
^rounding country appeared to be v/ell stocked with buffalo, which it was 
probable, after a day or two, we would not see again until our return to the 
Mississippi waters, I determined to make here a provision of dried meat, 
which would be necessary for our subsistence in the region we were about 
entering, which was said to he nearly destitute of game. Scaffolds were 
accordingly soon erected, fires made, and the meat cut into thin slices to be 
dried; and all were busily occupied, when the camp was thrown into a 
sudden tumult, by a charge from about 70 mounted Indians, over the low 
hills at the upper end of the little bottom. Fortunately, the guard, who 
was between them and our animals, had caught a glimpse of an Indian's 
head, as he raised himself in his stirrups to look over the hill, a moment 
before he made the charge ; and succeeded in turning the band into the 
camp, as the Indians charged into the bottom witfi the usual yell. Before 
they reached us, the grove on the verge of the little bottom was occupied 
by our people, and the Indians brought to a sudden halt, Avhich they made 
in time to save themselves from a howitzer shot, which would undoubtedly 
have been very eflective in such a compact body ; and further proceedings 
were inierrupted by their signs for peace. They proved to be a war party 
of Arapaho and Cheyenne Indians, and informed us that they had charged 
upon the camp under the belief that we were hostile Indians, and had dis- 
covered their mistake only at the moment of the attack — an excuse which 
policy required us to receive as true, though under the full conviction that 
the display of our little howitzer, and our favorable position in the grove, 
certainly saved our horses, and probably ourselves, from their marauding 
intentions. They had been on a war party, and had been defeated, and 



1843.] CAPT. FREM0:NT'S NARRATIVE. lU 

were consequently in the state of mind which aggravates their innate 
thirst for plunder and blood. Their excuse, however, was taken in good 
part, and the usual evidences of friendship interchanged. The pipe went 
round, provisions were spread, and the tobacco and goods furnished the 
customary presents, which they look for even from traders, and much more 
from Government authorities. 

They were returning from an expedition against the Shoshonee Indians, 
one of whose villages they had surprised, at Bridger's fort, on Ham's fork 
of Green river, (in the absence of the men, who were engaged in an ante- 
lope surround,) and succeeded in carrying off their horses and taking 
several scalps. News of the attack reached the Snakes immediately, who 
pursued and overtook them, and recovered their horses ; and, in the running 
fight which ensued, the Arapahos had lost several men killed, and a num- 
ber wounded, who were coming on more slowly with a party in the rear. 
Nearly all the horses they had brought off were the property of the whites 
at the fort. After remaining until nearly sunset, they took their departure; 
and the excitement which their arrival had atforded subsided into our usual 
quiet, a little enlivened by the vigilance rendered necessary by the neigh- 
borhood of our uncertain visiters. At noon the thermometer was at 75°, at 
sunset 70°, and the evening clear. Elevation above the sea 6,820 feet ; 
latitude 41° 36' 00"; longitude 107° 22' 27". 

^^ugust 6. — At sunrise the thermometer was 46°, the morning being 
clear and calm. We travelled to-day over an extremely rugged country, 
barren and uninteresting — notliiiig to be seen but artemisia bushes ; and, in 
the evening, found a grassy spot among the hills, kept green by several 
springs, where we encamped late. Within a few hundred yards was a very 
pretty Uttle stream of clear cool water, whose green banks looked refreshing 
among the dry rocky hills. The hunters brought in a fat mountain sheep, 
[ovis mofilana.) 

Our road the next day was through a continued and dense field of arie- 
misia, which now entirely covered the country in such a luxuriant growth 
that it was ditlicult and laborious for a man on foot to force his way 
through, and nearly impracticable for our light carriages. The region 
through which we were travelling was a high plateau, constituting the di- 
viding ridge between the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and 
extending to a considerable distance southward, from the neighborhood of 
the Table rock, at the southern side of the South Pass. Though broken 
up into rugged and rocky hills of a dry and barren nature, it has nothing 
of a mountainous character; the small streams which occasionally occur 
belonging neither to the Platte nor the Colorado, but losing themselves 
eiiher^in the sand or in small lakes. From an eminence, in the afternoon, 
a mountainous range became visible in the north, in which were recog- 
nised some rocky peaks belonging to the range of the Sweet Water valley; 
and, determining to abandon any further attempt to struggle through this 
almost impracticable country, we turned our course directly north, towards 
a pass in the valley of the Sweet Water river. A shaft of the gun carriage 
was broken during the afternoon, causing a considerable delay; and it was 
late in an unpleasant evening before we succeeded in finding a very poor 
encampment, where there was a little water in a deep trench of a creek, 
and some scanty grass among the shrubs. All the game here consisted in, 
a few straggling buffalo bulls, and during the day there had been but very 



112 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

little grass, except in some green spots where it had collected around springs 
or shallow lakes. Within fifty miles of the Sweet Water, the country 
changed into a vast saline plain, in many places extremely level, occasion- 
ally resembling the flat sandy beds of shallow lakes. Here the vegetation 
consisted of a shrubby growth, among which were several varieties of 
chenopodiaceous plants; but the characteristic shrub was Fremontia ver- 
micularis, with smaller saline shrubs growing with singular luxuriance, 
and in many places holding exclusive possession of the ground. 

On the evening of the Sth, we encamped on one of these fresh-water 
lakes, which the traveller considers himself fortunate to find ; and the next 
day, in latitude by observatii5hi 42° 20' 06", halted to noon immediately at 
the foot of ihe southern side of the range which walls in the Sweet Water 
valley, on the head of a small tributary to that river. 

Continuing in the afternoon our course down the stream, which here 
cuts directly through the ridge, forming a very practicable pass, we entered 
the valley ; and, after a march of about nine miles, encamped on our famil- 
iar river, endeared, to us by the acquaintance of the previous expedition; 
the night having already closed in with a cold rain storm. Our camp was 
about twenty miles above the Devil's gate, which we had been able to see 
in coming down the plain; and, in the course of the night, the clouds broke 
away around Jupiter for a short time, during which we obtained an im- 
mersion of the first satellite, the result of which agreed very nearly with 
the chronometer, giving for the mean longitude 107° 50' 07"; elevation 
above the sea 6,040 feet ; and distance from St. Vrain's fort, by the road 
we had just travelled, 315 miles. 

Here passes the road to Oregon ; and the broad smooth highway, where 
the numerous heavy wagons of the emigrants had entirely beaten and 
crushed the artemisia, was a happy exchange to our poor animals for the 
sharp rocks and tough shrubs among which they had been toiling so long ; 
and we moved up the valley rapidly and pleasantly. With very little de- 
viation from our route of the preceding year, we continued up the valley: 
and on the evening of the 12th encamped on the Sweet Water, at a point 
where the road turns oft' to cross to the plains of Green river. The increased 
coolness of the weather indicated that we had attained a great elevation, 
which the barometer here placed at 7,220 feet; and during the night water 
froze in the lodge. 

The morning of the 13th was clear and cold, there being a white frost; 
and the thermometer, a little before sunrise, standing at 26.5°. Leaving 
this encampment, (our last on the waters which flow towards the rising 
sun,) we took our way along the upland, towards the dividing ridge which 
separates the Atlantic from the Pacific waters, and crossed it by a road some 
miles further south than the one we had followed on our return in 1842. 
We crossed very near the table mountain, at the southern extremity of the 
South Pass, which is near twenty miles in width, and already traversed by 
several different roads. Selecting as well as I could, in the scarcely distin- 
guishable ascent, what might be considered the dividing ridge in this re- 
markable depression in the mountain, I took a barometrical observation, 
which gave 7,490 feet for the elevation above the Gulf of Mexico. You 
will remember that, in my report of 1842, 1 estimated the elevation of this 
pass at about 7,000 feet ; a correct observation with a good barometer ena- 
bles me now to give it with more precision. Its importance, as the great 
gate through which commerce and travelling may hereafter pass between 



1S43.] CAPT. FREMO^'T'S NARRATIVE. 113 

the valley of t'lc ?vlississippi and the north Pacific, justifies a precise notice 
of its locality and distance from leading points, in addition to this statement 
of its elevation. As stated in the report of 1842, its latitude at the point 
where we crossed is 42° 24' 32" ; its longitude 109° 26' 00"; its distance 
from the mouth of the Kansas, by the common travelHng route, 962 miles; 
from the mouth of the Great Platte, along tlie valley of that river, according 
to our survey of 1S42, SS2 miles ; and its distance from St. Louis about 400 
miles more by the Kansas, and about 700 by the Great Platte route ; these 
additions being steamboat conveyance in both instances. From this pass 
to the mouth of the Oregon is about 1,400 miles by the common travelling 
route ; so that, under a general point of view, it may be assumed to be about 
halfway between the Mississippi and the Pacific ocean, on the common 
travelling route. Following a hollow of slight and easy descent, in which 
was very soon formed a little tributary to the Gulf nf California, (for the 
waters which flow west from the South Pass go to this gulf,) we made our 
usual halt four miles from the pass, in latitude by observation 42° 19' 53". 
Entering here the valley of Green river — the great Colorado of the West — 
and inclining very much to the southward along the streams which form 
the Sandy river, the road led for several days over dry and level uninter- 
esting plains ; to which a low, scrubby growth of artemisia gave a uniform 
dull grayish color; and on the evening of the 15lh we encamped in the 
Mex.ican territory, on the left bank of Green river, 69 miles from the South 
Pass, in longitude 110° 05' 05", and latitude 41° 53' 54", distant 1,031 miles 
from the mouth of the Kansas. This is the emigrant road to Oregon, which 
bears much to the soiuhward, to avoid the mountains about the western 
heads of Green river — the Rio Verde of the Spaniards. 

Jlugust 16. — Crossing the river, here about ^100 feet wide, by a very good 
ford, we continued lo descend for seven or eight miles on a pleasant road 
along the right bank of the streau), of which the islands and shores arc hand- 
somely timbered with cottonwood. The refreshing appearance of the broad 
river, with its timbered shores and green wooded islands, in contrast to its 
dry sandy plains, probably obtained for it the name of Green river, which 
was bestowed on it by the Spaniards who first came into this country to 
trade some 25 years ago. It was then familiarly known as the Seeds-ke- 
dee-agie, or Prairie Hen [fetruo iirophasianus) river; a name which it re- 
ceived fiom the Crows, to v\^hom its upper waters belong, and on which this 
bird is still very abundant. By the Shoshonee and Utah Indians, to whom 
belongs, for a considerable distance below, the country where we were now 
travelling, it was called tlie Bitter Root river, from the great abundance in 
its valley of a plant which affords them one of their favorite roots. Lower 
down, from Brown's hole to the southward, the river runs through lofty 
chasms, walled in by precipices of red rock ; and even among the wilder 
tribes who inhabit that portion of its course, I have heard it called by Indian 
refugees from the Californian settlements the Kio Colorado. We halted to 
noon at the upper end of a large bottom, near some old houses, which had 
been a trading post, in latitude 41° 46' 54". At this place the elevation of 
the river above the sea is 6,230 feet. That of Lewis's fork of the Columbia 
at Fort Hall is, according to our subsequent observations, 4,500 feet. The 
descent of each stream is rapid, but that of the Colorado is but little known, 
and that little derived from vague report. Three hundred miles of its 
lower part, as it approaches the gulf of California, is reported to be smooth 
S 



114 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

and tranquil ; but its upper part is manifestly broken into many falls 
and rapids. From many descriptions of trappers, it is probable that in its 
foaming course among its lofty precipices it presents many scenes of wild 
grandeur ; and though offering many temptations, and often discussed, no 
trappers have been found bold enough to undertake a voyage which has so 
certain a prospect of a fatal termination. The Indians have strange stories 
of beautiful valleys abounding with, beaver, shut up among inaccessible 
walls of rock in the lower course of the river ; and to which the neighbor- 
ing Indians, in their occasional ^Tars with the Spaniards, and among them- 
selves, drive their herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, leaving them to pas- 
ture in perfect security. 

The road here leaves the river, which bends considerably to the east ; and 
in the afternoon we resumed our westerly course, passing over a somewhat 
high and broken country ; and about sunset, after a day's travel of 26 miles, 
reached Black's fork of the Green river — a shallow stream, with a some- 
what sluggish current, about 120 feet wide, timbered principally with wil- 
low, and here and there an occasional large tree. At 3 in the morning I 
obtained an observation of an emersion of the first satellite of Jupiter, with 
other observations. The heavy wagons have so completely pulverized the 
soil, that clouds of fine light dust are raised by the slightest wind, making 
the road sometimes very disagreeable. 

August 17. — Leaving our encampment at 6 in the morning, we travelled 
along the bottom, which is about two miles wide, bordered by low hills, in 
which the strata contained handsome and very distinct vegetable fossils. In 
a gully a short distance farther up the river, and underlying these, was ex- 
posed a stratum of an impure or argillaceous limestone. Crossing on the 
way Black's fork, where it is one foot deep and forty wide, with clear water 
and a pebbly bed, in nine miles we reached Ham's fork, a tributary to the 
former stream, having now about sixty feet breadth, and a icw inches depth 
of water. It is wooded with thickets of red willow, and in the bottom is a 
tolerably strong growth of grass. The road here makes a traverse of twelve 
miles across a bend of the river. Passing in the way some remarkable hills, 
two or three hundred feet high, with frequent and nearly vertical escarp- 
ments of a green stone, consisting of an argillaceous carbonate of lime, al- 
ternating with strata of an iron-brown limestone, and worked into pictur- 
esque forms by wind and rain, at 2 in the afternoon we reached the river 
again, having made to-day 21 miles. Since crossing the great dividing 
ridge of the Rocky mountains, plants have been very few in variety, the 
country being covered principally with artemisia. 

August 18, — We passed on the road, this morning, the grave of one of 
the emigrants, being the second we had seen since falling into their trail; 
and halted to noon on the river, a short distance above. 

The Shoshonee woman took leave of us here, expecting to find some of 
her relations at Bridger's fort, which is only a mile or two distant, on a 
fork of this stream. In the evening we encamped on a salt creek, about 
fifteen feet wide, having to-day travelled 32 miles. 

I obtained an emersion of the first satellite under favorable circumstances, 
the night being still and clear. 

One of our mules died here, and in this portion of our journey we lost 
six or seven of our animals. The grass which the country had lately af- 
forded was very poor and insufficient ; and animals which have been ac- 



1343.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 115 

customed to grain become soon weak and unable to labor, when reduced to 
no other nourishment than crass. The American horses (as those are 
usuallv called which are brought to this country from the States) are not of 
any serviceable value until after they have remained a winter in the coun- 
try, and become accustomed to hve entirely on grass. 

jiugast 19. — Desirous to avoid every delay not absolutely necessary, I 
sent on Carson in advance to Fort Hall this morning, to make arrangements 
for a small supply of provisions. A few miles from our encampment, the 
road entered a high ridge, which the trappers called the "little mountain," 
connecting the Utah with the Wind river chain ; and in one of the hills near 
which we passed I remarked strata of a conglomerate formation, frag- 
ments of which were scattered over the surface. We crossed a ridge of 
this conglomerate, the road passing near a grove of low cedar, and de- 
scended upon one of the heads of Ham's fork, called Muddy, where we 
made our midday lialt. In the river hills at this place, I discovered strata 
of fossilliferous rock, having an oolitic structure, whicn, in connexion with 
the neighboring strata, authorize us to believe that here, on the west side 
of the Rocky mountains, we find repeated the modern formations of Great 
Britain and Europe, which have hitherto been wanting to complete the 
system of North American geology. 

In the afternoon we continued our road, and, searching among the hills 
a few miles up the stream, and on the same bank, I discovered, among alter- 
nating beds of coal and clay, a stratum of white indurated clay, containing 
very clear and beautiful impressions of vegetable remains. This was the 
most interesting fossil locality I had met in the country, and I deeply re- 
gretted that time did not permit me to remain a day or two in the vicinity; 
but I could not anticipate the delays to which I might be exposed in the 
course of our journey — or, rather, I knew that they were many and inevi- 
table; and after remaining here only about an hour, I harried off, loaded 
with as many specimens as I could conveniently carry. 

Coal made its appearance occasionally in the hills during the afternoon, 
and was displayed in rabbit burrows in a kind of gap, through which we 
passed over some high hills, and we descended to niake our encampment 
on the same stream, where we found but very poor grass. In the evening 
a fine cow, with her calf, which had strayed off from some emigrant party, 
were found several miles from the road, and brought into camp ; and as 
she gave an abundance of milk, we enjoyed to-night an excellent cup of 
coffee. We travelled to-day 28 miles, and, as has been usual since crossing 
the Green river, the road has been very dusty, and the weather smoky and 
oppressively hot. Artemisia was characteristic among the iew plants. 

j^ugust 20. — We continued to travel up the creek by a very gradual 
ascent and a very excellent grassy road, passing on the way several small 
forks of the stream. The hills here are higher, presenting escarpments of 
parti-colored and apparently clay rocks, purple, dark red, and yellow, con- 
taining strata of saiidstone and limestone with shells, with a bed of cement- 
ed pebbles, the whole overlaid by beds of limestone. The alternation of red 
and yellow gives a bright appearance to the hills, one of which was called 
by our people the Rainbow hill ; and the character of the country became 
more agreeable, and travelling far more pleasant, as now we found timber 
and very good grass. Gradually ascending, we reached the lower level of a 
bed of white limestone, lying upon a white clay, on the upper line of which 



116 CAPT. FEEMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

the whole road is abundantly snppUed with beautifal cool springs, gushing 
out a foot in breadth and several inches deep, directly from the Inil side. At 
noon we halted at the last main fork of the creek, at an elevation of 7,200 
feet, and in latitude, by observation, 41° 39' 45" ; and in the afternoon con- 
tinued on the same excellent road, up the left or northern fork of the 
stream, towards its head, in a pass which the barometer placed at 8,230 feet 
above the sea. This is a connecting ridge between the Utah or Bear river 
mountains and the Wind river chain of the Rocky mountains, separating 
the waters of the gulf of California on the east, and those on the west be- 
longing more directly to the Pacific, from a vast interior basin whose rivers 
are collected into numerous lakes having no outlet to the ocean. From the 
summit of this pass, the highest which the road crosses Ifetween the Missis- 
sippi and the Western ocean, our view was over a very mountainous region,' 
whose rugged appearance v/as greatly increased by the smoky weather, 
through which tlie l)roken ridges were dark and dimly seen. The ascent 
to the summit of the gap was occasionally steeper than the national road in 
the Alleghanies; and the descent, by way of a spur on the western side, is 
rather precipitous, but the pass may still be called a good one. Some 
thickets of willow in the hollows below deceived us into the expectation of 
finding a camp at our usual hour at the foot of the mountain ; but we found 
them without water, and continued down a ravine, and encamped about 
dark at a place where the springs again began to make their appearance, 
but where our animals fared badly ; the stock of the emigrants having 
razed the grass as completely as if we were again in the midst of the 
buffalo. 

August 21. — An hour's travel this morning brought us into the fertile 
and picturesque valley of Bear river, the principal tributary to the Great 
Salt lake. The stream is here 200 feet wide, fringed with willows and 
occasional groups of hawthorns. 'We were now entering a region which 
for us possessed a strange and extraordinary interest. We were upon the 
waters of the famous lake which forms a salient point among the remarka- 
ble geographical features of the country, and around which the vague and 
superstitious accounts of the trappers had thrown a delightful obscurity, 
which we anticipated pleasure in dispelling, but which, in the mean time,, 
left a crowded field for the exercise of our imagination. 

In our occasional conversations with the few old hunters who had visited 
the region, it had been a subject of frequent speculation ; and the wonders 
which they related were not the less agreeable because they were highly 
exaggerated and impossible. 

Hitherto this lake had been seen only by trappers who were wandering 
through the country in search of new beaver streams, caring very little for 
geography; its islands had never been visited ; and none v/ere to be fotmd 
who had entirely made the circuit of its shores ; and no instrumental ob- 
servations or geographical survey, of any description, had ever been made 
any where in the neighboring region. It was generally supposed that it 
had no visible outlet ; but among the trappers, including those in my own 
camp, were many who believed that somewhere on its surface was a ter- 
rible whirlpool, through which its waters found their way to the ocean by 
some subterranean communication. All these things had made a frequent 
subject of discussion in our desultory conversations around the fires at 
night; and my own mind had become tolerably well filled with their in- 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 117 

definite pictures, and insensibly colored with their romantic descriptions, 
which, in the pleasure of excitement, I was well disposed to believe, and 
half expected to realize. 

Where we descended into this beautiful valley, it is three to four irtiles in 
hreadth, perfectly level, and bounded by Uiountainous ridges, one above 
another, rising suddenly from the plain. 

We continued our road down the river, and at night encamped with a 
family of emigrants — two men, women, and several children — who ap- 
peared to be bringing up the rear of the great caravan. I was struck with 
the fine appearance of their cattle, some six or eight yoke of oxen, which 
really looked as well as if they had been all the summer at v/ork on some 
good farm. It was strange to see one small family travelling along through 
such a country, so remote from civilization. Some nine years since, such 
a security njight have been a fatal one; but since their disastrous defeats 
in the country a little north, the Blackfeet have ceased to visit these waters. 
Indians, however, are very uiicertain in their localities ; and the friendly 
feelings, also, of those now inhabiting it may be changed. 

According to barometrical observation at noon, the elevation of the valley 
was 6,400 feet above the sea ; and our encampment at night in latitude 
42° 03' 47", and longitnde 111° 10' 53", by observation — the day's journey 
having been 26 miles. This encampment was therefore within the territo- 
rial limit of the United States; our travelling, from the time we entered the 
valley of the Green river, on the 15th of August, having been to the south 
of the 42d degree of north latitude, and consequently on Mexican territory; 
and this is the ronte all the emigrants now travel to Oregon. 

The temperature at sunset was 65°; and at evening there was a distant 
thunder storm, with a light breeze from the north. 

Antelope and elk were seen during the day on the opposite prairie; and 
there were ducks and geese in the river. 

The next morning, in about three miles from our encampment, we reach- 
ed Smith's fork, a stream of clear water, about 50 feet in breadth. It is 
timbered with cottonwood, willow, and aspen, and makes a beautiful de- 
bouchement through a pass about 600 yards wide, between remarkable 
mountain hills, rising abruptly on either side, and forming gigantic columns 
to the gate by which it enters i3ear river valley. The bottoms, which below 
Smith's fork had been two miles wide, narrowed, as we advanced, to a gap 
500 yards wide ; aiid during the greater part of the day we had a winding 
route, the river making very sharp and sudden bends, the mountains steep 
and rocky, and the valley occasionally so narrow as only to leave space for 
a passage through. 

We made om- halt at noon in a fertile bottom, where the common blue 
flax was growing abundantly, a few miles below the mouth of Thomas's 
fork, one of the larger tributaries of the river. 

Crossing, in the afternoon, the point of a narrow spur, we descended into 
a beautiful bottom, formed by a lateral valley, which presented a picture 
of home beauty that went directly to our hearts. The edge of the wood, 
for several miles along the river, was dotted with the white covers of emi- 
grant wagons, collected in groups at different camps, where the smokes 
were rising lazily from the fires, around which the women were occupied 
in preparing the evening meal, and the children playing in the grass; and 
herds of cattle, grazing about in the bottom, had an air of quiet security, 



118 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [184^. 

and civilized comfort, that made a rare sight for the traveller in such a 
remote wilderness. 

In common with all the emigration, they had been reposing for several 
days in this delightful valley, in order to recruit their animals on its luxuri- 
ant pasturage after their long journey, and prepare them for the hard travel 
along the comparatively sterile banks of the Upper Columbia. At the 
lower end of this extensive bottom, the river passes through an open caiion, 
where there were high vertical rocks to the water's edge, and the road here 
turns up a broad valley to the right. It was already near sunset ; but, 
hoping to reach the river again before night, we continued our march 
along the valley, finding the road tolerably good, until we arrived at a point 
where it crosses the ridge by an ascent of a mile in length, which was so 
very steep and difiicult for the gun and carriage, that we did not reach the 
summit until dark. 

It was absolutely necessary to descend into the valley for water and grass; 
and we were obliged to grope our way in the darkness down a very steep^ 
bad mountain, reaching the river at about 10 o'clock. It was late before 
our animals were gathered into camp, several of those which were very 
weak being necessarily left to pass the night on the ridge; and we sat down 
again to a midnight supper. The road, in the morning, presented an ani- 
mated appearance. We found that we had encamped near a large party of 
emigrants; and a few miles below another party was already in motion. 
Here the valley had resumed its usual breadth, and the river swept off 
along the mountains on the western side, the road continuing directly on. 

In about an hour's travel we met several Shoshonee Indians, who in- 
formed us that they belonged to a large village which had just come into 
the valley from the mountain to the westward, where they had been hunt- 
ing antelope and gathering service berries. Glad at the opportunity of 
seeing one of their villages, and in the hope of purchasing from them a 
few horses, I turned immediately off into the plain towards their encamp- 
ment, which was situated on a small stream near the river. 

We had approached within something more than a mile of the village, 
when suddenly a single horseman emerged from it at full speed, followed 
by another, and another, in rapid succession ; and then party after party 
poured into the plain, until, when the foremost rider reached us, all the 
whole intervening plain was occupied by a mass of horsemen, which came 
charging down upon us with guns and naked swords, lances, and bows 
and arrows — Indians entirely naked, and warriors fully dressed for war, 
with the long red streamers of their war bonnets reaching nearly to the 
ground — all mingled together in the bravery of savage warfare. They had 
been thrown into a sudden tumult by the appearance of our flag, which, 
among these people, is regarded as an emblem of hostility; it being usually 
borne by the Sioux, and the neighboring mountain Indians, when they 
come here to war; and we had accordingly been mistaken for a body of 
their enemies. A few words from the chief quieted the excitement; and 
the whole band, increasing every moment in number, escorted us to their 
encampment, where the chief pointed out a place for us to encamp, near his 
own lodge, and made known our purpose in visiting the village. In a very 
short time we purchased eight horses, for which we gave in exchange 
blankets, red and blue cloth, beads, knives, and tobacco, and the usual other 
articles of Indian traffic. We obtained from them also a considerable quan.- 



1843.] CAPT. FKEMONT'S NARRATIVE. 119 

tity of berries of difFereut kinds, among which service berries were the most 
abundant; and several kinds of roots and seeds, which we could eat with 
pleasure, as any kind of vegetable food wasgratifyiiig to us. I ate here, for 
the first time, the kooyahy or tobacco root, [Valeriana edulis.) the principal 
edible root among the Indians who inhabit the upper waters of the streams 
on the western side of the mountains. It has a very strong and remarkably 
peculiar taste and odor, which I can compare to no other vegetable that I 
am acquainted with, and which to some persons is extremely offensive. It 
was characterized by Mr. Preuss as the most horrid food he had ever put in 
his mouth ; and when, in the evening, one of the chiefs sent his wife to me 
with a poriion which she had prepared as a delicacy to regale us, the odor 
immediately drove him out of the lodge; and frequently afterwards he used 
to beg that when those who liked it had taken what they desired, it might 
be sent away. To others, however, the taste is rather an agreeable one, 
and I was afterwards always glad wlien it formed an addition to our scanty 
meals. It is full of nutriment ; and in its unprepared state is said by the 
Indians to have very strong poisonous qualities, of which it is deprived by 
a peculiar process, being baked in the ground for about two days. 

The morning of the 24th was disagreeably cool, with an easterly wind 
and very smoky weather. We made a late start from the village, and, re- 
gaining the road, (on which, during all the day, were scattered the emigrant 
Avagons.) we continued on down the valley of the river, bordered by high 
and mountainous hills, on which fires are seen at the sunmiit. The soil 
appears generally good, although, with the grasses, many of the plants are 
dried up, probably on account of the great heat and want of rain. The 
common blue flax of cultivation, now almost entirely in seed — only a scat- 
tered flower here and there remaining — is the most characteristic plant of 
the Bear river valley. When we encamped at night on the right bank of 
the river, it was growing as in a sown field. We had travelled during the 
day 22 miles, encamping in latitude (by observation) 42° 3G' 50", chrono- 
metric longitude 111° 42' 05". 

In our neighborhood, the mountains appeared extremely rugged, giving 
still greater value to this beautiful natural pass. 

^^itgust 25. — This was a cloudless but smoky autumn morning, with a 
cold wind from the SE., and a temperature of 45° at sunrise. In a few 
miles I noticed, where a little stream crossed the road, fragments of 5cor/a/- 
ed basalt scattered about — the first volcanic rock we had seen, and which 
now became a characteristic rock along our future road. In about six 
miles travel from our encampment, we reached one of the points in our 
journey to which we had always looked forward with great interest — the 
famous Beer springs. The place in which they are situated is a basin 
of mineral waters enclosed by the mountains, which sweep around a 
circular bend of Bear river, here at its most northern point, and which 
from a northern, in the course of a few miles acquires a southern direc- 
tion towards the Great Salt lake. A pretty little stream of clear 
water enters the upper part of the basin from an open valley in the moun- 
tains, and, passing through the bottom, discharges into Bear river. Cross- 
ing this stream, we descended a mile below, and made our encamp- 
ment in a grove of cedar immediately at the Beer springs, which, on ac- 
count of the effervescing gas and acid taste, have received their name from 
the voyageurs and trappers of the country, who, in the midst of their rude 



iXJO CAPT. FKEMO^'T\S NARRATIVE. [1S43. 

and htircl lives, are fond of finding some fancied resemblance to the luxu- 
ries they rarely have the fortune to enjoy. 

Although somewhat disappointed in the expectations which various de- 
scriptions had led me to form of unusual beauty of situation and scenery, 
I (oimd it altogether a place of very great interest; and a traveller for the 
first time in a volcanic region remains in a constant excitement, and at 
ev^ery step is arrested by something remarkable and new. There is aeon- 
fusion of interesting objects gathered together in a small space, Arpund 
the place of encampment the Beer springs were numerous; but, as far as 
we could ascertain, were entirely confined to that locahty in the bottom. In 
the bed of the river, in front, for a space of several hundred yards, they 
were very abundant 5 the effervescing gasri.'singup and agitating the water 
in countless bubbling columns. In the vicinity round about were numerous 
springs of an entirely ditierent and equally marked mineral character. In a 
rather picturesque spot, about 1,300 yards below our encampment, and im- 
mediately on the river bank, is the most remarkable spring of the place. 
In an opening on the rock, a white column of scattered water is thrown up, 
in form like Kjci-d'eav, to a variable height of about three feet, and, though 
it is maintained in a constant supply, its greatest height is attained only at 
regular intervals, according to the action of the force below. It is accom- 
panied by a subterranean noise, which, together with the motion of the 
water, makes very much the impression of a steamboat in motion : and, 
witliout knowing that it had been already previously so called, we gave to 
it the name of the Steamboat spriiip;. The rock throush which it is torced 
is slightly raised in a convex manner, and gathered at the opening into an 
urn-mouthed form, and is evidently formed by continued deposition from 
the water, and colored bright red by oxide of iron. An analysis of this 
deposited rock, which I subjoin, will give you some idea of the properties 
of the water, which, with the exception of the Beer springs, is the mineral 
water of the place.* It is a hot spring, and the water has a pungent and 
disagreeable metallic taste, leaving a burning effect on the tongue. Within 
perhaps two yards of the Jef-d^eau is a small hole of about an inch in diam- 
eter, through which, at regular intervals, escapes a blast of hot air with a 
light wreath of smoke, accompanied by a regular noise. This hole had 
been noticed by Doctor Wislizenus, a gentleman who several years since 
passed by this place, and who remarked, with very nice observation, that 
smelhng the gas which issued from the orifice produced a sensation of gid- 
diness and nausea. Mr. Preuss and myself repeated the observation, and 
were so well satisfied with its correctness, that we did not find it pleasant to 
continue the experiment, as the sensytion of giddiness which it produced 
was certainly strong and decided. A huge emigrant wagon, with a large 
and diversified family, had overtaken us and halted to noon at our encamp- 
ment; and, while we were sitting at the spring, a band of boys and girls, 

* ANALYSIS. 

Carbonate of lime ----._. 92.. 5.5 

Carbonate of magnesia ------- o.42 

Oxide of iron - - - - - - - -1.0.5 

Silica "J 

Alumina C ---.... 5.93 

Water and less j 

100.00 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. loj 

with two or tluce young men, came up, one of whom I asked to stoop 
down and smell tlie gas, desirous to satisfy myself further of its effects. But 
his natural caution liad been awakened by the singular and suspicious 
features of the place, and he declined my proposal decidedly, and with a 
few indistinct remarks about the devil, whom he seemed to consider the 
genius loci. The ceaseless motion and the play of the fountain, the red 
rock, and the green trees near, make this a picturesque spot. 

A short distance above the spring, and near the foot of the same spur, is a 
very remarkable yellow-colored rock, soft and friable, consisting principally 
of carbonate of lime and oxide of iron, of regular structure, which is prob- 
ably a fossil coral. The rocky bank along the shore between the Steam- 
boat spring and our encampment, along which is dispersed the water from 
the hills, is composed entirely of strata of a calcareous tufa, with the re- 
mains of moss and reed-hke grasses, which is probably the formation of 
s])rings. The Beer or Soda springs, which have given name to this locality, 
are agreeable, but less highly flavored than the Boiling springs at the foot 
of Pike's peak, which are of the same character. They are very numerous, 
and half hidden by tufts of grass, which we amused ourselves in removing 
and searching about for more highly impregnated springs. They are some 
of them deep, and of various sizes — sometimes several yards in diameter, 
and kept in constant motion by columns of escaping gas. By analysis, one 
quart of the water contains as follows : 

Grains. 
Sulphate of magnesia --...- 12.10 

Sulphate of lime ..-....- 2.12 

Carbonate of lime ------- 3.86 

Carbonate of magnesia ------ 3.22 

Chloride of calcium ------ 1.33 

Chloride of magnesium ------ 1.12 

Chloride of sodium ..-.-. 2.24 

Vegetable extractive matter, &c. ----- 0.S5 



26.34 



The carbonic acid, originally contained in the water, had mainly escaped 
before it was subjected to analj'-sis; and it was not, therefore, taken into 
consideration. 

In the afternoon I wandered about among the cedars, v/hich occupy the 
greater part of the bottom towards the mountains. The soil here has a dry 
and calcined appearance; in some places, the open grounds are covered 
with saline efflorescences, and there are a number of regularly shaped and 
very remarkable hills, which are formed of a succession of convex strata 
that have been deposited by the waters of extinct springs, the orifices of 
which are found on their summits, some of them having ihe form of fun- 
nel-shaped cones. Others of these remarkably shaped hills are of a red- 
colored earth, entirely bare, and composed principally of carbonate of lime, 
with oxide of iron, formed in the same manner. Walking near one of 
them, on the summit of which the springs were dry, my attention was at- 
tracted by an underground noise, around which I circled repeatedly, until 
I found the spot from beneath which it came ; and, removing the red earth, 
discovered a hidden spring, which was boiling up from below, with the 
same disagreeable metallic taste as the Steamboat spring. Continuhig up 



122 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

the bottom, and crossing the little stream which has been already mentioned, 
I visited several remarkable red and white hills, which had attracted my 
attention from the road m the morning. These are immediately upon the 
stream, and, like those already mentioned, are formed by the deposition of 
successive strata from the springs. On their summits, the orifices through 
which the waters had been discharged were so large that they resembled 
miniature craters, being some of them several feet in diameter, circular, and 
regularly formed as if by art. At a former time, when these dried-up foun- 
tains were all in motion, they must have made a beautiful display on a 
grand scale ; and nearly all this basin appears to me to have been formed 
under their action, and should be called the ylace of fountains. At the 
foot of one of these hills, or rather on its side near the base, are several of 
these small limestone columns, about one foot in diameter at the base, and 
tapering upwards to a height of three or four feet; and on the summit the 
water is boiling up and bubbhng over, constantly adding to the height of 
the little obelisks. In some, the water only boils up, no longer overflowing, 
and has here the same taste as at the Steamboat spring. The observer will 
remark a gradual subsidence in the water, which formerly supplied the 
fountains, as on all the summits of the hills the springs are now dry, and 
are found only low down upon their sides, or on the surrounding plain. 

A little higher up the creek, its banks are formed by strata of a very 
heavy and hard scoriaceous basalt, having a bright metallic lustre when 
broken. The mountains overlooking the plain are of an entirely different 
geological character. Continuing on, I walked to the summit of one of 
them, where the principal rock was a granular quartz. Descending the 
mountains, and returning towards the camp along the base of the ridge 
which skirts the plain, I found at the foot of a mountain spur, and issuing 
from a compact rock of a dark -blue color, a great number of springs hav- 
ing the same pungent and disagreeably metallic taste already mentioned, 
the water of which was collected into a very remarkable basin, whose sin- 
gularity, perhaps, made it appear to me very beautiful. It is large — 
perhaps fifty yards in circumference ; and in it the water is contained at 
an elevation of several feet above the surrounding ground by a wall of cal- 
careous titfa, composed principally of the remains of mosses, three or four, 
and sometimes ten feet high. The water within is very clear and pure, 
and three or four feet deep, where it could be conveniently measured near 
the wall; and, at a considerably lower level, is another pond or basin of 
very clear water, and apparently of considerable depth, from the bottom of 
which the gas was escaping in bubbling columns at many places. This 
water was collected into a small stream, which, in a few juuidred yards, 
sank under ground, reappearing among the rocks between the two great 
springs near the river, which it entered by a little fall. 

Late in the afternoon I sat out on my return to the camp, and, crossing 
in the way a large field of a salt that was several inches deep, found on my 
arrival that our emigrant friends, who had been encamped in company with 
us, had resumed their journey, and the road had again assumed its solitary 
character. The temperature of the largest of the Beer springs at our en- 
campment was 65° at sunset, that of the air being 62.5°. Our barometric 
observation gave 5,840 feet for the elevation above the gulf, being about 500 
feet lower than the Boiling springs, which are of a similar nature, at the foot 
of Pike's peak. The astronomical observations gave for our latitude 42° 
39' 57", and 111° 46' 00" for the longitude. The night was very still and 



1843.] CAFT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. Ig-S 

cloudless, and T sat up for an observation of the first satellite of Jupiter, 
the emersion of which took place about midnight ; but fell asleep at the 
telescope, awaking just a few minutes after the appearance of the star. 

The morning of the 26th was calm, aud the sky without clouds, but 
smoky;* and the temperature at sunrise 2S.5°. At the same time, the tem- 
perature of the large Beer spring, where we were encamped, was 56°; that 
of the Steamboat spring 87°; and that of the steam hole, near it, 81.5°. In 
the course of tlie morning, the last wagons of the emigration passed by, 
and we were again left in our place, in the rear. 

Remaining in camp until nearly 11 o'clock, we travelled a short distance 
down the river, and halted to noon on the bank, at a point where the road 
quits the valley of Bear river, and, crossing a ridge which divides the Great 
Basin from the Pacific waters, reaches Fort Hall, by way of the Portneuf 
river, in a distance of probably fifty miles, or two and a half days' journey 
for wagons. An examination of the great lake which is the outlet of this 
river, and the principal feature of geographical interest in the basin, was 
one of the main objects contemplated in the general plan of our survey, and 
I accordingly determined at this place to leave the road, and, after having 
completed a reconnoissance of the lake, regain it subsequently at Fort Hall. 
But our little stock of provisions had again become extremely low ; we had 
only dried meat sufficient for one meal, and our supply of flour and other 
comforts was entirely exhausted. I therefore immediately despatched one 
of the party, Henry Lee, with a note to Carson, at Fort Hall, directing 
him to load a pack horse with whatever could be obtained there in the 
way of provisions, and endeavor to overtake me on the river. In the 
mean time, we had picked up along the road two tolerably well-grown 
calves, which would have become food for wolves, and which had proba- 
bly been left by some of the earlier emigrants, none of those we had met 
having made any claim to them ; and on these I mainly relied for support 
during our circuit to the lake. 

In sweeping around the point of the mountain which runs down into the 
bend, the river here passes between perpendicular walls of basalt, which 
always fix the attention, from the regular form in which it occurs, and its 
perfect distinctness from the surrounding rocks among which it has been 
placed. The mountain, which is rugged and steep, and, by our measure- 
ment, 1,400 feet above the river directly opposite the place of our halt, is 
called the Sheep rock — probably because a flock of the common mountain 
sheep {avis viontana) had been seen on the craggy point. 

As we were about resuming our march in the afternoon, I was attracted 
by the singular appearance of an isolated hill with a concave summit, in 
the plain, about two miles from the river, and turned off towards it, while 
the camp proceeded on its way to the southward in search of the lake. I 
found the thin and stony soil of the plain entirely underlaid by the basalt 
which forms the river walls; and when I reached the neighborhood of the 
hill, the surface of the plain was rent into frequent fissures and chasms of 
the same scoriated volcanic rock, from forty to sixty feet deep, but which 
there was not sufficient light to penetrate entirely, and which I had not 
time to descend. Arrived at the summit of the hill, I found that it termi- 
nated in a very perfect crater, of an oval, or nearly circular form, 360 
paces in circumference, and 60 feet at the greatest depth. The walls, 
which were perfectly vertical, and disposed like masonry in a very regular 
manner, were composed of a brown-colored scoriaceous lava, evidently 



124 CAPT. FREMOXT'S NARRATIVE. [1S43. 

the production of a modern volcano, and having all the appearance of the 
lighter scoriaceous lavas of Mount JEtna, V^esuvius, and other volcanoes. 
The faces of the walls were reddened and glazed by the fire, in which they 
had been melted, and which had left them contorted and twistegl by its 
violent action. 

Our route during the afternoon was a little rough, being (in the direction 
we had taken) over a volcanic plain, where our progress was sometimes 
obstructed by fissures, and black beds composed of fragments of the rock. 
On both sides, the mountains appeared very broken, but tolerably well 
timbered. 

Jiugust 26. — Crossing a point of ridge which makes in to the river, we 
fell upon it again before sunset, and encamped on the right bank, opposite 
to the encampment of three lodges of Snake Indians. They visited us 
during the evening, and we obtained from them a small quantity of roots 
of different kinds, in exchange for goods. Among them was a sweet root 
of very pleasant flavor, having somewhat the taste of preserved quince. 
My endeavors to become acquainted with the plants which furnish to the 
Indians a portion of their support were only gradually successful, and af- 
ter long and persevering attention; and even after obtaining, I did not suc- 
ceed in preserving them until they could be satisfactorily determined. In 
this portion of the journey, I found this particular root cut up into such 
small pieces, that it was only to be identified by its taste, when the bulb 
was met with in perfect form among the Indians lower down on the Co- 
lumbia, among whom it is the highly celebrated kamiis. It was long af- 
terwards, on our return through Upper California, that I found the plant 
itself in bloom, which I supposed to furnish the kamds root, {camassia es- 
culenta. ) The root diet had a rather mournful effect at the commence- 
ment, and one of the calves M''as killed this evening for food. The animals 
fared well on rushes. 

t/lugust 27. — The morning was cloudy, with appearance of rain, and 
the thermometer at sunrise at 29°. Making an unvisually early start, we 
crossed the river at a good ford ; and, tbllowing for about three hours a trail 
which led along the bottom, we entered a labyrinth of hills below the main 
ridge, and halted to noon in the ravine of a pretty little stream, timbered 
with Cottonwood of a large size, ash-leaved maple, with cherry and othei* 
shrubby trees. The hazy weather, which had prevented any very extended 
views since entering the Green river valley, began now to disappear. There 
was a slight rain in the earlier part of the day, and at noon, when the ther- 
mometer had risen to 79.5°, we had a bright sun, with blue sky and scat- 
tered cumuli. According to the barometer, our halt here among the hills 
was at an elevation of 5,320 feet. Crossing a dividing ridge in the after- 
noon, we followed down another little Bear river tributary, to the point 
wiiere it emerged on an open green fiat among the hills, timbered with 
groves, and bordered with cane thickets, but without water. A pretty little 
rivulet, coming out of the hill side, and overhung by tall flowering plants 
of a species 1 had not hitherto seen, furnished us with a good camping 
place. The evening was cloudy, the temperature at sunset 69°, and the ele- 
vation 5,140 feet. Among the plants occurring along the line of road dur- 
ing the day, cpinettes des prairies (grindelia squarrosa) was in considera- 
ble abundance, and is among the very lew plants remaining in bloom — 
the whole country having now an autumnal appearance, in the crisped and 



1S43.] CAPT. FREMONTS NARRATIVE. I05 

yellow plants, and dried-iip grasses. ]\Iany cranes were seen during the 
day, with a few antelope, very shy and wild. 

August 28. — During the night we had a thunder storm, with moderate 
rain, which has made the air this morning very clear, the thermometer 
being at 53°. Leaving our encampment at the Cane sp7nni^, and quitting 
the trail on which we had been travelling, and which would probably have 
afforded us a good road to the lake, we crossed some very deep ravines, and, 
in about an hour's travelling, again reached the river. We were now in a 
valley five or six miles wide, between mountain ranges, which, about tliirty 
miles below, appeared to close up and terminate the valley, leaving for the 
river only a very narrow pass, or canon, behind which we imagined that 
we should find the broad waters of the lake. We made the usual halt at 
the mouth of a small clear stream, having a slightly mineral taste, (perhaps 
of salt,) '1,7fiO feet above the gulf. In the afternoon we climbed a very 
steep sandy hill ; and, after a slow and winding day's march of 27 miles, 
encamped at a slough on the river. 'Inhere were great quantities of geese 
and ducks, of which only a few were shot; the Indians having probably 
made them very wild. The men employed themselves in fishing, but caught 
nothing. A skunk, {jnephitis Americana^) which was killed in the after- 
noon, made a supper for one of the messes. The river is bordered occa- 
sionally with fields of cane, which we regarded as an indication of our 
approach to a lake country. We had frequent showers of rain during the 
night, with thunder. 

August 29. — The thermometer at sunrise was 54°, with air from the 
NW., and dark rainy clouds moving on the horizon ; rain squalls and 
bright sunshine by intervals. I rode ahead with Basil to explore the coun- 
try, and, continuing about three miles along the river, turned directly off on 
a trail running towards three marked gaps in the bordering range, where 
the mountains appeared cut through to their bases, towards which the river 
plain rose gradually. Putting our horses into a gallop on some fresh tracks 
which showed very plainly in the wet path, we came suddenly upon a 
small party of Shoshonee Indians, who had fallen into the trail from the 
north. We could only communicate by signs; but they made us under- 
stand that the road through the chain was a very excellent one, leading 
into a broad valley which ran to the southward. We halted to noon at 
what may be called the gate of the pass; on either side of which were 
liuge mountains of rock, between which stole a little pure water stream, 
with a margin just sufficiently large for our passage. From the river, the 
plain had gradually risen to an altitude of 5,500 feet, and, by meridian ob- 
servation, the latitude of the entrance was 42°. 

In the interval of our usual halt, several of us wandered along up the 
stream to examine the pass more at leisure. Within the gate, the rocks 
receded a little back, leaving a very narrow, but most beautiful valley, 
through which the little stream wound its way, hidden by difierent kinds 
of trees and shrubs — aspen, maple, willow, cherry, and elder ; a fine ver- 
dure of smooth short grass spread over the remaining space to tiie bare 
sides of the rocky walls. These were of a blue limestone, whicli constitutes 
the mountain here ; and opening directly on (he grassy bottom were sev- 
eral curious caves, which appeared to be inhabited by root diggers. On one 
side was gathered a heap of leaves for a bed, and they were, dry, open, 
and pleasant. On the roofs of the caves 1 remarked bituminous exuda- 
tions from the rock. 



l^e CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

The trail was an excellent one for pack horses; but, as it sometimes 
crossed a shelving point, to avoid the shrubbery we were obliged in several 
places to open a road for the carriage through the wood. A squaw on horse- 
back, accompanied by five or six dogs, entered the pass in the afternoon ; 
but was too much terrified at finding herself in such unexpected company 
to make any pause for conversation, and hurried off at a good pace — being, 
of course, no further disturbed than by an accelerating shout. She was 
well and showily dressed, and was probably going to a village encamped 
somewhere near, and evidently did not belong to the tribe of root diggers. 
We had now entered a country inhabited by these people ; and as in the 
course of our voyage we shall frequently meet with them in various stages 
of existence, it will be well to inform you that, scattered over the great 
region west of the Rocky m.ountains, and south of the Great Snake river, 
are numerous Indians whose subsistence is almost solely derived from roots 
and seeds, and such small animals as chance and great good fortune some- 
times bring within their reach. They are miserably poor, armed only with 
bows and arrows, or clubs ; and, as the country they inhabit is almost 
destitute of game, they have no means of obtaining better arms. In the 
northern part of the region just mentioned, they live generally in solitary 
families ; and farther to the south, they are gathered together in villages. 
Those who live together in villages, strengthened by association, are in 
exclusive possession of the more genial and richer parts of the country; 
while the others are driven to the ruder mountains, and to the more in- 
hospitable parts of the country. But by simply observing, in accompanying 
us along our road, you will become better acquainted with these people 
than we could make you in any other than a very long description, and 
you will find them worthy of your interest. 

Roots, seeds, and grass, every vegetable that aflbrds any nourishment, 
and every living animal thing, insect or worm, they eat. Nearly approach- 
ing to the lower animal creation, their sole employment is to obtain food; 
and they are constantly occupied in a struggle to support existence. 

The most remarkable feature of the pass is the Slcaidingrock, which has 
fallen from the cliflsabove,andstandingperpendicuIarly near the middle of the 
valley, presents itselflike a watch tower in the pass. It will give you a tolera- 
bly correct idea of the character of the scenery in this country, where general- 
ly the mountains rise abruptly up from comparatively unbroken plains and 
level valleys ; but it will entirely fail in representing the picturesque beauty 
of this delightful place, where a green valley, full of foliage, and a hundred 
yards wide, contrasts with naked crags that spire up into a blue line of pin- 
nacles 3,000 feet above, sometimes crested with cedar and pine, and some- 
times ragged and bare. 

The detention that we met with in opening the road, and perhaps a wil- 
lingness to linger on the way, made the afternoon's travel short ; and about 
two miles from the entrance we passed through another gate, and en- 
camped on the stream at the junction of a little fork from the southward, 
around which the mountains stooped more gently down, forming a small 
open cove. 

As it was still early in the afternoon, Basil and myself in one direction, 
and Mr. Preuss in another, set out to explore the country, and ascended 
different neighboring peaks, in the hope of seeing some indications of the 
lake ; but though our elevation afforded magnificent views, the eye ranging 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 127 

over a long extent of Bear river, with the broad and fertile Cache valley 
in the direction of our search, was only to be seen a bed of apparently 
impracticable mountains. Among these, the trail we had been following 
turned sharply to the northward, and it began to be doubtful if it would 
not lead us away from the object of our destination ; but I nevertheless de- 
termined to keep it, in the belief that it would eventually bring us right. 
A squall of rain drove us out of the mountain, and it was late when we 
reached the camp. The evening closed in with frequent showers of rain, 
with some lightning and thunder. 

August 30. — We had constant thunder storms during the night, but in the 
morning the clouds were sinking to the horizon, and the air was clear and 
cold, with the thermometer at sunrise at 39°. Elevation by barometer 5,580 
feet. We were in motion early, continuing up the little stream without en- 
countering any ascent where a horse would not easily gallop, and, crossing 
a slight dividing ground at the summit, descended upon a small stream, 
along which we continued on the same excellent road. In riding through 
the pass, numerous cranes were seen ; and prairie hens, or grouse, {bonasia 
umbellus,) which lately had been rare, were very abundant. 

This little affluent brought us to a larger stream, down which we travelled 
through a more open bottom, on a level road, where heavily-laden wagons 
could pass without obstacle. The hills on the right grew lower, and, on 
entering a more open country, we discovered a Shoshonee village ; and be- 
ing desirous to obtain information, and purchase from them some roots and 
berries, we halted on the river, wliich was lightly wooded with cherry, wil- 
low, maple, service berry, and aspen. A meridian observation of the sun, 
v/hich I obtained here, gave 42° 14' 22" for our latitude, and the barometer 
indicated a height of 5,170 feet, A number of Indians came immediately 
over to visit us, and several men were sent to the village with goods, tobacco, 
knives, cloth, vermilion, and the usual trinkets, to exchange for provisions. 
But they had no game of any kind ; and it was difficult to obtain any roots 
from them, as they were miserably poor, and had but little to spare from 
their winter stock of provisions. Several of the Indians drew aside their 
blankets, showing me their lean and bony figures ; and I would not any 
longer tempt them with a display of our merchandise to part with their 
wretched subsistence, when they gave as a reason that it would expose 
them to temporary starvation. A great portion of the region inhabited by 
this nation formerly abounded in game ; the buffalo ranging about in herds, 
as we had foimd them on the eastern waters, and the plains dotted with scat- 
tered bands of antelope ; but so rapidly have they disappeared within a few 
years, that now, as we journeyed along, an occasional buffalo skull and a 
few wild antelope were all that remained of the abundance which had 
covered the country with animal life. 

The extraordinary rapidity with which the buffalo is disappearing from 
our territories will not appear surprising when we remember the great 
scale on which their destruction is yearly carried on. With inconsiderable 
exceptions, the business of the American trading posts is carried on in their 
skins ; every year the Indian villages make new lodges, for which the skin 
of the buffalo furnishes the material ; and in that portion of the country 
where they are still found, the Indians derive their entire support from 
them, and slaughter them with a thoughtless and abominable extrava- 
gance. Like the Indians themselves, they have been a characteristic of 
the Great West; and as, like them, they are visibly diminishing, it will be 



128 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

interesting to throw a glance backward through the last twenty years, and 
give some account of their former distribution through the country, and the 
limit of their western range. 

The information is derived principally from Mr. Fitzpatrick, supported 
by my own personal knowledge and acquaintance with the country. Our 
knowledge does not go farther back than the spring of 1S24, at which time 
the buffalo were spread in immense numbers over the Green river and Bear 
river valleys, and through all the country lying between the Colorado, or 
Green river of the gulf of California, and Lewis's fork of the Columbia 
river ; the meridian of Fort Hall then forming the western limit of their 
range. The buffalo then" remained for many years in that country, and 
frequently moved dovvn the valley of the Columbia, on both sides of the 
river as far as the Fishing Jails. Below this point they never descended 
in any numbers. About the year 1S34 or 1835 they began to diminish 
very rapidly, and continued (o decrease until 1S3S or 1840, when, with the 
country we have just described, they entirely abandoned all the waters of 
the Pacific north of Lewis's fork of the Columbia. At that time, the Flat- 
head Indians were in the habit of finding their buffalo on the heads of Sal- 
mon river, and other streams of the Columbia; but now they never meet 
v/ith them farther west than the three forks of the jNIissouri or the plains 
of the Yellowstone river. 

In the course of our journey it will be remarked that the buffalo have not 
so entirely abandoned the waters of the Pacific, in the Rocky-mountain re- 
gion south of the Sweet Water, as in the country north of th« Great Pass. 
This partial distribution can only be accounted for in the great pastoral 
beauty of that country, which bears marks of having long been one of their 
favorite haunts, and by the fact that the white hunters have more frequent- 
ed the northern than the southern region — it being north of the South Pass 
that the hunters, trappers, and traders, have had their rendezvous tor many 
years past ; and from that section also the greater portion of the beaver and 
rich furs were taken, although always the most dangerous as well as the 
most profitable hunting ground. 

In that region lying between the Green or Colorado river and the head 
waters of the Rio del Norte, over the Yampali, Kooyah, While, ^.nd Grcaid 
rivers — all of which are the waters of the Colorado — the buffalo never ex- 
tended so far to the westward as they did on the waters of the Columbia; 
and only in one or two instances have they been known to descend as far 
west as tlie mouth of White river. In travelling througii the country west 
of the Rocky mountains, observation readily led me to the impression that 
the buffalo had, for the first time, crossed that range to the waters of the 
Pacific only a few years prior to the period we are considering ; and in this 
opinion 1 am sustained by Mr. Fitzpatrick, and the older trappers in that 
country. In the region west of the Rocky mountains,we never meet with 
any of the ancient vestiges v/hich, throughout all the country lying upon 
their eastern waters, are found in the gi-eat highways, continuous for hun- 
dreds of miles, always several inches and sometimes several feet in depth, 
which the buffalo have made in crossing from one river to another, or in 
traversing the mountain ranges. The Snake Indians, more particularly 
those low down upon Lewis's fork, have always been very grateful to the 
American trappers, for the great kindness (as they frequently expressed it) 
which they did to them, in driving the buffalo so low down the Columbia 
river. 

The extraordinary abundance of the buffalo on the east side of the Rocky 



iS43.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 129 

mountains, and their extraordinary diminution, will be made clearly evi- 
dent from the following statement : At any time between the years 1824 
and 1836, a traveller might start from any given point south or north in the 
Rocky mountain range, journeying by the most direct route to the Missouri 
river ; and, during the whole distance, his road would be always among 
large bands of buffalo, which would never be out of his view until he ar- 
rived almost within sight of the abodes of civilization. 

At thistime, the buffalo occupy but a very limited space, principally along 
the eastern base of the Rocky mountains, sometimes extending at their 
southern extremity to a considerable distance into the plains between the 
Platte and Arkansas rivers, and along the eastern frontier of New Mexico 
as far south as Texas. 

The following statement, which I owe to the kindness of Mr. Sanford, 
a partner in the American Fur Company, will ftirther illustrate this subject, 
by extensive knowledge acquired during se\'eral years of travel through the 
region inhabited by the buffalo : 

" The total amount of robes annually traded by ourselves and others 
will not be found to differ much from the following statement : 

Robes. 

American Fur Comp'any ..... 70,000 

Hudson's Bay Company ..... 10,000 

All other companies, probably .... 10,000 



Making a total of ----- - 90,000 

as an average annual return for the last eight or ten years. 

" In the northwest, the Hudson's Bay Company purchase from the In- 
dians but a very sn)all number — their only market being Canada, to which 
the cost of transportation nearly equals the produce of the furs; and it is only 
within a very recent period that they have received buffalo robes in trade ; 
and out of the great number of buffalo annually killed throughout the ex- 
tensive regions inhabited by the Camanches and other kindred tribes, no 
robes whatever arc furnished for trade. During only four months of the 
year, (from November until IJklarch,) the skins are good for dressing ; those 
obtained in the remaining eight months being valueless to traders ; and the 
hides of bulls aie never taken off or dressed as robes at an}- season. Prob- 
ably not more than one-third of the skins are taken from the animals killed, 
even when they are in good season, the labor of preparing and dressing the 
robes being very great ; and it is seldom that a lodge trades more than 
twenty skins in a year. It is during the summer months, and in the early 
part of autumn, that the greatest number of buffalo are killed, and yet at 
this time a skin is never taken for the purpose of trade." 

From these data, which are certainly limited, and decidedly withia 
bounds, the reader is left to draw his own inference of the immense num- 
ber annually killed. 

In 1842, I found the Sioux Indians of the Upper Platte demontes, as their 
French traders expressed it, with the failure of the buffalo ; and in the fol- 
lowing year, large villages from the Upper Missouri came over to the moun- 
tains at the heads of the Platte, in search of them. The rapidly progressive 
failure of their principal and almost their only means of subsistence has 
created great alarm among them ; and at this time there are only two modes 
presented to them, by which thev see a good prospect for escaping starva- 



130 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1S43, 

tion : one of these is to rob the settlements along the frontier of the States ; 
and the other is to form a league between the various tribes of the Sioux 
nation, the Cheyennes, and Arapahoes, and make war against the Crow 
nation, in order to take from them their country, which is now the best 
buffalo country in the west. This plan they now have in consideration ; 
and it would probably be a war of extermination, as the Crows have long 
been advised of tliis state of affairs, and say that they are perfectly prepared. 
These are the best warriors in the Rocky mountains, and aie now allied 
with the Snake Indians ; and it is probable that their combination would 
extend itself to the Utahs, who have long been engaged in war against the 
Sioux. It is in this section of country that my observation formerly led 
me to recommend the establishment of a military post. 

The farther course of our narrative will give fuller and more detailed 
information of the present disposition of the buffalo in the country we 
visited. 

Among the roots we obtained here, I could distinguish only five or six 
different kinds ; and the supply of the Indians whom we met consisted 
principally of yampah, [anethum, graveole7is,) tobacco root, {Valeriana^) 
and a large root of a species of thistle, ( circium Vi?'ginianum, ) which now 
is occasionally abundant, and is a very agreeably flavored vegetable. 

We had been detained so long at tiie village, that in the afternoon we 
made only five miles, and encamped on the same river after a day's jour- 
ney of 19 miles. The Indians informed us that we should reach the big 
salt water after having slept twice and travelling in a south direction. The 
stream had here entered a nearly level plain or valley, of good soil, eight or 
ten miles broad, to which no termination was to be seen, and lying between 
ranges of mountains which, on the right, were grassy and smooth, unbro- 
ken by rock, and lower than on the left, where they were rocky and bald, 
increasing in height to the southward. On the creek were fringes of young; 
willows, older trees being rarely found on the plains, where the Indians 
burn the surface to produce better giass. Several magpies {pica Hudsonica) 
were seen on the creek this afternoon ; and a rattlesnake was killed here, 
the first which had been seen since leaving the eastern plains. Our camp 
to-night had such a hungry appearance, that \ suffered the little cow to be 
killed, and divided the roots and berries among the people. A number of 
Indians from the village encamped near. 

The weather the next morning was clear, the thermometer at sunrise at 
44'. 5, and, continuing down the valley, in about five miles we followed 
the little creek of our encampment to its junction with a larger stream, 
called Roseaux, or Reed river. Immediately opposite, on the right, the 
range was gathered into its highest peak, sloping gradually low, and run- 
ning off to a point apparently some forty or fifty miles below. Between 
this (now become the valley stream) and the foot of the mountains, we 
journeyed along a handsome sloping level, which frequent springs from the 
hills made occasionally miry, and halted to noon at a swampy spring, where 
there were good grass and abundant rushes. Here the river was forty feet 
wide, with a considerable current; and the valley a mile and a half in 
breadth ; the soil being generally good, of a dark color, and apparently well 
adapted to cultivation. The day had become bright and pleasant, with the 
thermometer at 71°. By observation, our latitude was 41° 59' 31", and the 
elevation above the sea 4,670 feet. On our left, this afternoon, the range 
at long ervals formed itself into peaks, appearing to terminate, about 



1S43.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 131 

forty miles below, in a rocky cape ; beyond which, several others were faint- 
ly visible ; and we w^ere disappointed when at every little rise we did not 
see the lake. Towards evening;, our way was somewhat obstructed by 
fields of artemisia, which began to make their appearance here, and we 
encamped on the Roseaux, the water of which had acquired a decidedly 
salt taste, nearly opposite to a canon gap in the mountains, through which 
the Bear river enters this valley. As we encamped, the night set in dark 
and cold, with heavy rain ; and the artemisia, which was here our only 
wood, was so wet that it would not burn. A poor, nearly starved dog, 
with a wound in his side from a ball, came to the camp, and remained 
with us until the winter, when he met a very unexpected fate. 

September 1. — The morning was squally and cold ; the sky scattered over 
with clouds ; and the night had been so uncomfortable, that we were not on 
the road until S o'clock. Travelling between Roseaux and Bear rivers, we 
continued to descend the valley, which gradually expanded, as we advanced, 
into a level plain of good soil, about 2.5 miles in breadth, between moun- 
tains 3,000 and 4,000 feet high, rising suddenly to the clouds, which all day 
rested upon the peaks. These gleamed out in the occasional sunlight, man- 
tled with the snow which had fallen upon them, while it rained on us in the 
valley below, of which the elevation here was about 4,500 feet above the 
sea. The country before us plainly indicated that we were approaching 
the lake, though, as the ground where we were travelling afforded no ele- 
vated point, nothing of it as yet could be seen ; and at a great distance ahead 
were several isolated mountains, resembling islands, which the}' were after- 
wards found to be. On this upper plain the grass was every where dead ; 
and among the shrubs with which it was almost exclusively occupied, (arte- 
misia being the most abundant,) fiequently occurred handsome clusters of 
several species of dicteria in bloom. Purshia tridentata was among the 
frequent shrubs. Descending to the bottoms of Bear river, we found good 
grass for the animals, and encamped about 300 yards above the mouth of 
Roseaux, which here makes its junction, w"ithout communicating any 
of its salty taste to the main stream, of which the watei' remains perfectly 
pure. On the river are only willow thickets, [salix longifolia^) and in the 
bottoms the abundant plants are canes, solidago, and helianthi, and along 
the banks of Roseaux are fields of malva rotiindifolia. At sunset the ther- 
mometer was at 54*^.5, and the evening clear and calm ; but I deferred 
making any use of it until 1 o'clock in the morning, when I endeavored 
to obtain an emersion of the first satellite ; but it was lost in a bank of 
clouds, which also rendered our usual observations indifferent. 

Among the useful things which formed a portion of our equipage, was an 
India-rubber boat, IS feet long, made somewhat in the form of a bark canoe 
of the northern lakes. Tiie sides were formed by two air-tight cylinders, 
eighteen inches in diameter, connected with others forming the bow and 
stern. To lessen the danger from accidents to the boat, these were divided 
into four different compartments, and the interior space was sufficiently 
large to contain five or six persons and a considerable w'eight of baggage. 
The Roseaux being too deep to be forded, our boat was filled with air, and 
in about one hour all the equipage of the camp, carriage and gun included, 
ferried across. Thinking that perhaps in the course of the day we might 
reach the outlet at the lake, I got into the boat with Basil Lajeuncsse, and 
paddled down Bear river, intending at night to rejoin the party, which in 
he mean time poceeded on its way. The river was from sixty to on 



132 CAPT. F^MONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

hundred yards broad, and the water so deep, that even on the comparatively 
shallow points we could not reach the bottom with 15 feet. On either side 
were alternately low bottoms and willow points, with an occasional high 
prairie ; and for five or six hours we followed slowly the winding course of 
the river, which crept along with a sluggish current among frequent dttours 
several miles around, sometimes running for a considerable distance directly 
up the valley. As we were stealing quietly down the stream, trying in rain 
4o get a shot at a strange large bird that was numerous among the willows, 
but very shy, we came unexpectedly upon several families oi Root Diggers^ 
who were encamped among the rushes on the shore, and appeared very 
busy about several weirs or nets which had been rudely made of canes and 
rushes for the purpose of catching fish. They were very much startled at 
our appearance, but we soon established an acquaintance ; and finding that 
they had some roots, I promised to send some men with goods to trade 
with them. They had the usual very large heads, remarkable among the 
Digger tribe, with matted hair, and were almost entirely naked ; looking 
very poor and miserable, as if their lives had been spent in the rushes where 
they were, beyond which they seemed to have very little knowledge of any 
thing. From the few words we could comprehend, their language was 
ihat of the Snake Indians. 

Our boat moved so heavily, thatwe had made very little progress; and, 
finding that it would be impossible to overtake the camp, as soon as we were 
sufficiently far below the Indians, we put to the shore near a high prairie 
bank, hauled up the boat, and cached our effects in the willows. Ascending 
the bank, we found that our desultory labor had brought us only a few miles 
in a direct line ; and, going out into the prairie, after a search we found the 
trail of the camp, which was now nowhere in sight, but had followed the 
general course of the river in a large circular sweep which it makes at this 
place. The sun was about thiee hours high when we found the trail ; and 
as our people had passed early in the day, we had the prospect of a vigorous 
walk before us. Immediately where we landed, the high arable plain on 
which we had been travelling for several days past terminated in extensive 
low flats, very generally occupied by salt marshes, or beds of shallow lakes, 
whence the water had in most places evaporated, leaving their hard surface 
encrusted with a shining white residuum, and absolutely covered with very 
small univalve shells. As we advanced, the whole country around us as- 
sumed this appearance ; and there was no other vegetation than the shrubby 
chenopodiaceous and other apparently saline plants, which were confined 
lo the rising grounds. Here and there on the river bank, which was raised 
like a levee above the flats through which it ran, was a narrow border of 
grass and short black-burnt willows ; the stream being very deep and 
sluggish, and sometimes 600 to 800 feet wide. After a rapid walk of about 
15 miles, we caught sight of the camp fires among clumps ot willows just 
as the sun had sunk behind the mountains on the west side of the val- 
ley, filling the clear sky with a golden yellow. These last rays, to us so 
piecious, could not have revealed a more welcome sight. To the traveller 
and the hunter, a camp fire in the lonely wilderness is always cheering ; 
and to ourselves, in our present situation, after a hard march in a region of 
movelty, approaching the debouches of a river, in a lake of almost fabulous 
reputation, it was doubly so. A plentiful supper of aquatic birds, and the 
SDlerest of the scene, soon dissipated fatigue ; and I obtained during the 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 133 

night emersions of the second, third, and fourth satellites of Jupiter, with 
observations for time and latitude. 

September 3. — The morning was clear, with a light air from the north, 
and the thermometer at sunrise at 45". 5. At 3 in the morning, Basil 
was sent back with several men and horses for the boat, which, in a direct 
course across the flats, was not 10 miles distant ; and in the mean time there 
was a pretty spot of grass here for the animjfls. The ground was so low 
that we could not get high enough to see across the river, on account of the 
willows ; but we were evidently in the vicinity of the lake, and the water 
fowl made this morning a noise like thunder. A pelican [pelecanus ono- 
crotalus) was killed as he passed by, and many geese and ducks flew over 
the camp. On the dry salt marsh here, is scarce any other plant than 
salicornia herbacea. 

In the afternoon the men returned with the boat, bringing with them a 
small quantity of roots, and some meat, which the Indians had told them 
was bear meat. 

Descending the river for about three miles in the afternoon, we found a 
bar to any further travelling in that direction — the stream being spread out 
in several branches, and covering the low grounds with water, where the 
miry nature of the bottom did not permit any further advance. We were 
evidently on the border of the lake, although the rushes and canes which 
covered the marshes prerented any view ; and we accordingly encamped 
at the little delta which forms the mouth of Bear river ; a long arm of the 
lake stretching up to the north between us and the opposite mountains. 
The river was bordered with a fringe of willows and canes, among which 
were interspersed a few plants ; and scattered about on the marsh was a 
species of w?iioZrt, closely allied to U. spicata of our sea coast. The whole 
morass was animated with multitudes of water fowl, which appeared to be 
very wild — rising for the space of a mile round about at the sound of a gun, 
Avith a noise like distant thunder. Several of the people waded out into 
the marshes, and we had to-night a delicious supper of ducks, geese, and 
plover. 

Although the moon was bright, the night was otherwise favorable ; and 
I obtained this evening an emersion of the first satellite, with the usual ob- 
servations. A mean result, depending on vaiious observations made during 
our stay in the neighborhood, places the mouth of the river in longitude 
112° 19' 30" west from Greenwiph ; latitude 41° 30' 22"; and, according 
to the barometer, in elevation 4,200 feet above the gulf of Mexico. The 
night was clear, with considerable dew, which I had remarked every night 
since the first of September. The next morning, while we were preparing 
to start, Carson rode into the camp with flour and a few other articles of 
light provision, sutficient for two or three days — a scanty but very accepta- 
ble supply. Mr. Fitzpatrick had not yet arrived, and provisions were very 
scarce, and difficult to be had at Fort Hall, which had been entirely ex- 
hausted by the necessities of the emigrants. He brought me also a letter 
from Mr. Dwight, who, in company with several emigrants, had reached 
that place in advance of Mr. Fitzpatrick, and was about continuing his 
journey to V ncouver. 

Returninga bout five miles up the river, we were occupied until nearly 
sunset in crossing to the left bank — the stream, which in the last five or six 
miles of its course, is very much narrower than above, being very deep im- 
mediately at the banks; and we had great difficulty in getting our animal? 



134 CAPT. FREMONT'S NAERATIVE, > [1S43. 

over. The people with the baggage were easily crossed in the boat, and 
we encamped on the left bank where we crossed the river. At sunset the 
thermometer was at 75', and there was some rain during the night, with a 
thunder storm at a distance. 

September 5. — Before us was evidently the bed of the lake, being a great 
salt marsh, perfectly level and bare, whitened in places by saline efflo- 
rescences, with here and thtre a pool of water, and having the appearance 
of a very level sea shore at low tide. Immediately along the river was a 
very narrow strip of vegetation, consisting of willows, helianthi, roses, 
flowering vines, and grass ; bordered on the verge of the great marsh by a 
fringe of singular plants, which appear to be a shrubby salicornia, or a genus 
allied to it. 

About 12 miles to the southward was one of those isolated mountains, 
now appearing to be a kind of peninsula ; and towards this we accordingly 
directed our course, as it probably aiforded a good view of the lake ; but 
the deepening mud as we advanced forced us to return toward the river, and 
gain the higher ground at the foot of the eastern mountains. Here we halt- 
ed for a few minutes at noon, on a beautiful little stream of pure and re- 
markably clear water, witli a bed of rock in situ, on which was an abun- 
dant water plant with a white blossom. There was good grass in the bot- 
toms ; and, amidst a rather luxuriant growth, its banks were bordered with 
a large showy plant {eupaiorium purpureum,) which I here saw for the 
first time. We named the stream Clear creek. 

We continued our way along the mountain, having found here a broad 
plainly beaten trail, over what was apparently the shore of the lake in the 
spring ; the ground being high and firm, and the soil excellent and covered 
with vegetation, among which a leguminous plant [^lycyrrhiza lepidota) 
was a characteristic plant. The ridge here rises abruptly to the height of 
about 4,000 feet ; its face being very prominently marked with a massive 
stratum of rose-colored granular quartz, which is evidently an altered sedi- 
mentary rock ; the lines of deposition being very distinct. It is rocky and 
steep ; divided into several mountains ; and the rain in the valley appears 
to be always snow on their summits at this season. Near a remarkable 
rocky point of the mountain, at a large spring of pure water, were several 
hackberry trees, (celtis,) probably a new species, the berries still green ; 
and a short distance farther, thickets of sumach (rhus.) 

On the plain here I noticed blackbir'^s and grouse. In about seven 
miles from Clear creek, the trail brought us to a place at the foot of the 
mountain where there issued with considerable force ten or twelve hot 
springs, highly impregnated with salt. In one of these, the thermometer 
stood at 136°, and in another at 132°.5 ; and the water, which spread in 
pools over the low ground, was colored red.* 

* An analysis of the red earthy matter deposited in the bed of the stream from the springs, 
gives the following result: 

Pero.\ida of iron - - - - - - . - - .33.50 

Carbonate of magnesia - - - - - - - - 2.40 

Carbonate of lime - - - - - - - - 50.43 

Sulphate o: lime --------- 2.00 

Chloride ot sodium ..-.-.. 3.45 

Silica and alumina -- .-.-- 3.00 

Water and loss - - - . - - - - - 5.22 

100.00 



1S43.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 135 

At this place the trail we had been following turned to the left, apparent- 
ly with the view of entering a gorge in the mountain, from which issued 
the principal fork of a large and comparatively well-timbered stream, called 
Weber's fork. We accordingly turned ofi' towards the lake, and encamped 
on this river, w'hich was 100 to 150 J'eet wide, with high banks, and very 
clear pure water, without the slightest indication of salt, 

September 6. — Leaving the encampment early, we again directed our 
course for the peninsular butte across a low shrubby plain, crossing in the 
w'ay a slough-like creek with miry banks, and wooded with thickets of thorn 
(cratcBgus) which were loaded with berries. This time we reached the 
butte without any difficulty, and, ascending to the summit, immediately at 
our feet beheld the object of our anxious search — the v.aters of the Inland 
Sea, stretching in still and solitary grandeur far beyond the limit of our 
vision. It was one of the great points of the exploration ; and as we looked 
eagerly over the lake in the first emotions of excited pleasure, I am doubtful 
if the followers of Balboa felt more enthusiasm when, from the heights of 
the Andes, they saw for the first time the great Western ocean. It was 
certainly a magnificent object, and a noble terminus to this part of our ex- 
pedition ; and to travellers so long shut up among mountain ranges, a sud- 
den view over the expanse of silent waters had in it something sublime- 
Several large islands raised their high rocky heads out of the waves ; but 
whether or not they were timbered, was still left to our imagination, as the 
distance was too great to determine if the dark hues upon them were wood- 
land or naked rock. During the day the clouds had been gathering black 
over the mountains to the westward, and, while we were looking, a storm 
burst down with sudden fury upon the lake, and entirely hid the islands 
from our view. So far as we could see, along the shores there was not a 
solitary tree, and but little appearance of grass; and on Weber's fork, a 
few miles below our last encampment, the timber was gathered into groves, 
and then disappeared entirely. As this appeared to be the nearest point to 
the lake where a suitable camp could be found, we directed our course to 
one of the groves, where we found a handsome encampment, with good 
grass and an abundance of rushes, [equisetumhyemale.) At sunset, the ther- 
mometer was at 55°; the evening clear and calm, with some cumuli. 

September 7. — The morning was calm and clear, with a temperature 
at sunrise of 39^.5. The day was spent in active preparation for our in- 
tended voyage on the lake. On the edge of the stream a favorable spot 
was selected in a grove, and, felling the timber, we made a strong coral^ or 
horse pen, for the animals, and a little fort for the people who were to re- 
main. We were now probably in the country of the Utah Indians, though 
none reside upon the lake. The India-rubber boat was repaired with pre- 
pared cloth and gum, and filled with air, in readiness for the next day. 

The provisions which Carson had brought with him being now exhausted, 
and our stock reduced to a small quantity of roots, I determined to retain 
with me only a sufficient number of men for the execution of our design ; 
and accordingly seven were sent back to Fort Hall, under the guidance 
of Francois Lajeunesse,- who, having been for many years a trapper in the 
country, was considered an experienced mountaineer. Though they were 
provided v.ith good horses, and the road was a remarkably plain one of 
only four days' journey for a horseman, they became bewildered, (as we 
afterwards learned,) and, losing their way, wandered about the country in 



136 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [18431 

parties of one or two, reaching the fort about a week afterwards. Some 
straggled in of themselves, and the others were brought in by Indians who 
had picked them up on Snake river, about sixty miles below the fort, trav- 
elling along the emigrant road in full march for the Lower Columbia. The 
leader of this adventurous party was Francois. 

Hourly barometrical observations were made during the day, and, after 
departure of the party for Fort Hall, we occupied ourselves in continuing 
our little preparations, and in becoming acquainted with the country in 
the vicinity. The bottoms along the river were timbered with several 
kinds of willow, hawthorn, and fine cottonvvood trees {populus canadensis) 
with remarkably large leaves, and sixty feet in height by measurement. 
We formed now but a small family. With Mr. Preuss and myself. Car- 
son,Bernier, and Basil Lajeunesse, had been selected for the boat expedi- 
tion — the first ever attempted on this interior sea ; and Badeau, with De- 
rosier, and Jacob, (the colored man,) were to be left in charge of the camp. 
We were favored with most delightful weather. To-night there was a 
brilliant sunset of golden orange and green, which left the w'estern sky 
clear and beautifully pure ; but clouds in the east made me lose an occulta- 
tion. The summer frogs were singing around us, and the evening was 
very pleasant, with a temperature of 60° — a night of a more southern au- 
tumn. For our supper we had yampah^ the most agreeably flavored of the 
roots, seasoned by a small fat duck, which had come in the way of Jacob's 
rifle. Around our fire to-night were many speculations on what to-morrow 
would bring forth, and in our busy conjectures we fancied that we should 
find every one of the large islands a tangled wilderness of trees and shrub- 
bery, teeuiing with game of every description that the neighboring region 
aff'orded, and which the foot of a white man or Indian had never violated. 
Frequently, during the day, clouds had rested on the summits of their lofty 
mountains, and we believed that we should find clear streams and springs 
of fresh water; and we indulged in anticipations of the luxurious repasts 
with which we were to indemnify ourselves for past privations. Neither, 
in our discussions, were the whirlpool and other mysterious dangers forgot- 
ten, which Indian and hunter's stories attributed to this unexplored lake. 
The men had discovered that, instead of behig strongly sewed ( like that of 
the preceding year, which had so triumphantly rode the caiions of the Up- 
per Great Platte,) our present boat was only pasted together in a ver^ inse- 
cure manner, the maker having been allowed so little time in the construc- 
tion, that he was obliged to crowd the labor of two months into several 
days. The insecurity of the boat was sensibly felt by us ; and, mingled 
with the enthusiasm and excitement that we all felt at the prospect of an 
undertaking which had never before been accomplished, was a certain im- 
pression of danger, suflicient to give a serious character to our conversation.. 
The momentary view which had been had of the lake the day before, its 
great extent and rugged islands, dimly seen amidst the dark waters in the 
obscurity of the sudden storm, were well calculated to heighten the idea 
of undefined danger with which the lake was generally associated. 

September 8. — A calm, clear day, with a sunxise temperature of 41°. 
In view of our present enterprise, a part of the equipment of the boat had 
been made to consist in three air-tight bags, about three feet long, and ca- 
pable each of containing five gallons. These had been filled with water 
the night before, and were now placed in the boat, with our blankets and 



1S43.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. I37 

instruments, consisting of a sextant, telescope, spy glass, thermometer, and 
arj.uie t 

We left the camp at sunrise, and had a very pleasant voyage down the 
river, in which there was generally eight or ten feet of water, deepening as 
we neared the mouth in the latter part of the day. In the course of the 
morning we discovered that two of the cylinders leaked so much as to re- 
quire one man constantly at the bellows, to keep them suflBciently full of 
air to support the boat. Although we had made a very early start, we 
loitered so much on the way— stopping every now and then, and floating 
silently along, to get a shot at a goose or a duck — that it was late in the day 
when we reached the outlet. The liver here divided into several branches, 
filled with fluvials, and so very shallow that it was with difficulty we 
could get the boat along, being obliged to get out and wade. We encamped 
on a low point among rushes and young willows, where there was a quan- 
tity of drift wood, which served for our fires. The evening was mild and 
clear ; we made a pleasant bed of the young willows ; and geese and ducks 
enough had been killed for an abundant supper at night, and for breakfast 
the next morning. The stillness of the night was enlivened by millions of 
water fowl. Latitude (by observation) 41° 11' 26"; and longitude 112° 
11 ■ 30". 

September 9. — The day was clear and calm ; the thermometer at sunrise 
at 49°. As is usual with the ti appers on the eve of any enterprise, our peo- 
ple had made dreams, and theirs happened to be a bad one — one which al- 
ways preceded evil — and consequently they looked very gloomy this morn- 
ing ; but we hurried through our breakfast, in order to make an early start, 
and have all the day before us for our adventure. The channel in a short 
distance became so shallow that our navigation was at an end, being merely 
a sheet of soft mud, with a few inches of water, and sometimes none at all, 
forming the low-water shore of the lake. All this place was absolutely 
covered with flocks of screaming plover. We took off our clothes, and, 
getting overboard, commenced dragging the boat — making, by this opera- 
tion, a very curious trail, and a very disagreeable smell in stirring up the 
mud, as we sank above the knee at every step. The water here was still 
fresh, with only an insipid and disagreeable taste, probably derived from the 
bed of fetid mud. After proceeding in this way about a mile, we came to 
a small black ridge on the bottom, beyond which the water became sud- 
denly salt, beginning gradually to deepen, and the bottom was sandy and 
firm. It was a remarkable division, separating the fresh water of the rivers 
from the briny water of the lake, which was entirely saturated with com- 
mon salt. Pushing our little vessel across the narrow boundary, we sprang 
on board, and at length were afloat on the waters of the unknown sea. 

We did not steer for the mountainous islands, but directed our course to- 
wards a lower one, which it had been decided we should first visit, the 
summit of which was formed like the crater at the upper end of Bear river 
valley. So long as we could touch the bottom with our paddles, we were 
very gay ; but gradually, as the water deepened, we became more still in 
our frail batteau of gum cloth distended with air, and with pasted seams. 
Although the day was very calm, there was a considerable swell on the 
lake ; and there were white patches of foam on the surface, which were 
slowly moving to the southward, indicating the set of a current in that di- 
rection, and recalling the recollection of the whirlpool stories. The water 



138 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843 

continued to deepen as we advanced ; the lake becoming almost transpa- 
rently clear, of an extremely beautiful bright-green color; and the spray, 
which was thrown into the boat and over our clothes, w^as directly con- 
verted into a crust of common salt, which covered also our hands and arms. 
" Captain," said Carson, who for some time had been looking suspiciously 
at some whitening appearances outside the nearest islands, " what are those 
yonder .'' — won't you just take a look with the glass ?'' We ceased paddling 
for a moment, and found them to be the caps of the waves that were begin- 
ning to break under the force of a strong breeze that was coming up the 
lake. The form of the boat seemed to be an admirable one, and it rode on 
the waves like a water bird ; but, at the same time, it was extremely slow in 
its progress. When we were a little more than half way across the reach, 
tv/o of the divisions between the cylinders gave way, and it required the 
constant use of the bellows to keep in a sufficient quantity of air. For a 
long time we scarcely seemed to approach our island, but gradually we 
worked across the rougher sea of the open channel, into the smoother water 
under the lee of the island ; and began to discover that what we took for 
a long row of pelicans, ranged on the beach, were only low cliffs whitened 
with salt by the spray of the waves ; and about noon we reached the shore, 
the transparency of the water enabling us to see the bottom at a consider- 
able depth. 

It was a handsome broad beach where we landed, behind which the hill, 
into which the island was gathered, rose somewhat abruptly ; and a point 
of rock at one end enclosed it in a sheltering way ; and as there was an 
abundance of drift wood along the shore, it offered us a pleasant encamp- 
ment. We did not suffer our fragile boat to touch the sharp rocks ; but, 
getting overboard, discharged the baggage, and, lifting it gently out of the 
water, carried it to the upper part of the beach, which was composed of 
very small fragments of rock. 

Among the successive banks of the beach, formed by the action of the 
waves, our attention, as we approached the island, had been attracted by 
one 10 to 20 feet in breadth, of a dark-brown color. Being more closely 
examined, this was found to be composed, to the depth of seven or eight 
and twelve inches, entirely of the larvce of insects, or, in common language, 
of the skins of worms, about the size of a grain of oats, which had been 
washed up by the waters of the lake. 

Alluding to this subject some months afterwards, when travelling through 
a more southern portion of this region, in company with Mr. Joseph Walker, 
an old hunter, I was informed by him, that, wandering with a party of men 
in a mountain country east of the great Califoinian range, he surprised a 
party of several Indian families encamped near a small salt lake, who aban- 
doned their lodges at his approach, leaving every thing behind them. Be- 
ing in a starving condition, they were delighted to (ind in the abandoned 
lodges a number of skin bags, containing a quantity of what appeared to be 
fish, dried and pounded. On this they made a hearty supper; and were 
gathering around an abundant breakfast the next morning, when Mr. Walker 
discovered that it was with these, or a similar worm, that the bags had been 
filled. The stomachs of the stout trappers were not proof against their pre- 
judices, and the repulsive food was suddenly rejected. Mr. Walker had 
further opportunities of seeing these worms used as an article of food ; and 
I am inclined to think they are the same as those we saw, and appear to be 



1843.1 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 139 

a product of the salt lakes. It may be well to recall to your mind that Mr. 
Walker was associated with Captain Bonneville in his expedition to the 
Rocky mountains; and has since tliat time remained in the country, gen- 
erally residing in some one of the Snake villages, when not engaged in one 
of his numerous trapping expeditions, in which he is celebrated as one of 
the best and bravest leaders who have ever been in the country. 

The cliffs and masses of rock along the shore were whitened by an in- 
crustation of salt where the waves dashed up against them ; and the evap- 
oratiui]:; water, which had been left in holes and hollows on the surface of 
the rocks, was covered with a crust of salt about one-eighth of an inch in 
thickness. It appeared strange that, in the midst of this grand reservoir, one 
of our greatest wants lately had been salt. Exposed to be more perfectly 
dried in the sun, this became very white and fine, having the usual flavor 
of very excellent common salt, without any foreign taste ; but only a little 
was collected for present use, as there was in it a number (jf small black 
insects. 

Carrying with us the barometer and other instruments, in the afternoon 
we ascended to the highest point of the island — a bare rocky peak, 800 feet 
above the lake. Standing on the summit, we enjoyed an extended view of 
the lake, enclosed in a basin of rugged mountains, which sometimes left 
marshy flats and extensive bottoms between them and the shore, and in other 
places came directly down into the water with bold and precipitous bluiis. 
Following with our glasses the irregular shores, we searched for some in- 
dications of a communication with other bodies of water, or the entrance of 
other rivers ; but the distance was so great that we could make out nothing 
with certainty. To the southward, several peninsular mountains, 3,000 or 
4,000 feet high, entered the lake, appearing, so far as the distance and our 
position enabled us to determine, to be connected by flats and low ridges 
with the mountains in the rear. These are probably the islands usually indica- 
ted on maps of this region as entirely detached from the shore. The season of 
our operations was when the waters were at their lowest stage. At the season 
of high waters in the spring, it is probable that the marshes and low grounds 
are overflowed, and the surface of the lake considerably greater. In several 
places the view was of unlimited extent^-here and there a rocky islet ap- 
pearing above the water at a groat distance ; and beyond, every thing was 
vague and undefined. As we looked over the vast expanse ot water spread 
out beneath us, and strained our eyes along the silent shores over which 
hung so much doubt and uncertainty, and which were so full of interest to 
us, I could hardly repress the almost irresistible desire to continue our ex- 
ploration ; but the lengthening snow on the mountains was a plain indica- 
tion of the advancing season, and our frail linen boat appeared so insecure 
that I was unwilling to trust our lives to the uncertainties of the lake, i 
therefore unwillingly resolved to terminate our survey here, and remain sat- 
isfied for the present with what we had been able to add to the unknown 
geography of the region. We felt pleasure also in remembering that we 
were the first who, in the traditionary annals of the country, had visited the 
islands, and broken, with the cheerful sound of human voices, the long sol- 
itude of the place. From the point where we were standing, the ground 
fell off" on every side to the water, giving us a perfect view of the island, 
which is twelve or thirteen miles in circumference, being simply a rocky 
hill, on which there is niether water nor trees of any kind; although the 



140 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

Fremontia vermicularis, which was in great abundance, might easily be 
mistaken for timber at a distance. The plant seemed here to delight in a 
congenial air, growing in extraordinary luxuriance seven to eight feet high^ 
and was very abundant on the upper parts of the island, where it was al- 
most the only plant. This is eminently a saline shrub ; its leaves have a 
very salt taste ; and it luxuriates in saline soils, where it is usually a char- 
acteristic. It is widely diffused over all this country. A chenopodiaceous 
shrub, which is a new species of obione, (G. rigida, Torr. ^ Frem.,) w'as 
equally characteristic of the lower parts of the island. These two are the 
' striking plants on the island, and belong to a class of plants which form a 
prominent feature in the vegetation of this country. On the lower parts of 
the island,also,aprickly pear of very large size was frequent. On the shore^. 
near the water, was a woolly species oi' phaca ; and a new species of um- 
belliferous plant (leptofcemia) was scattered about in very considerable 
abundance. These constituted all the vegetation that now appeared upon 
the island. 

I accidentally left on the summit the brass cover to the object end of my 
spy glass ; and as it will probably remain there undisturbed by Indians, it 
will furnish matter of speculation to some futuie traveller. In our excur- 
sions about the island, we did not meet with any kind of animal ; a mag- 
pie, and another larger bird, probably attracted by the smoke of our fire, 
paid us a visit from the shore, and were the only living things seen during 
our stay. The rock constituting the cliffs along the shore where we were 
encamped, is a talcous rock, or steatite, with brown spar. 

At sunset, the temperature was 70*^. We had arrived just in time to ob- 
tain a meridian altitude of the sun, and other observations were obtained 
this evening, which place our camp in latitude 41"^ 10' 42", and longitude 
112'' 21' 05" from Greenwich. From a discussion of the barometrical ob- 
servations made during our stay on the shores of the lake, we have adopted 
4,200 feet for its elevation above the gulf of Mexico. In the first disap- 
pointment we felt from the dissipation of our dream of the fertile islands, I 
called this Disappointment island. 

Out of the dnftwood,we made ourselves pleasant little lodges, open to 
the water, and, after having kindled large fires to excite the wonder of any 
straggling savage on the lake shores, lay down, for the first time in a long 
journey, in perfect security ; no one thinking about his arms. The even- 
ing was extremely bright and pleasant ; but the wund rose during the night, 
and the waves began to break heavily on the shore, making our island 
tremble. I had not expected in our inland journey to hear the roar of an 
ocean surf; and the strangeness of our situation, and the excitement we 
felt in the associated interests of the place, made this one of the most in- 
teresting nights I remember during our long expedition. 

In the morning, the surf was breaking heavily on the shore, and we 
were up early. The lake was dark and agitated, and we hurried through 
our scanty breakfast, and embarked — having first filled one of the buckets 
with water from the lake, of which it was intended to make salt. The 
sun had risen by the time we were ready to start ; and it was blowing a 
strong gale of wind, almost directly off the shore, and raising a consider- 
able sea, in whicli our boat strained very much, ft roughened as we got 
away from the island, and it required all the efforts of the men to make 
any head against the wind and sea ; the gale rising with the sun, and there 



1S43.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 141 

was danger of being blown into one of tlie open reaches beyond the island. 
At the distance of half a mile from the beach, the depth of water was 16 
feet, with a clay bottom ; but, as the working of the boat was very severe 
labor, and during the operation of rounding it was necessary to cease pad- 
dling, during which the boat lost considerable way, I was unwilling to dis- 
courage the men, and reluctantly gave up my intention of ascertaining the 
depth, and the character of the bed. There was a general shout in the 
boat when we found ourselves in one fathom, and we soon after landed on 
3. low point of mud, immediately under the butte of the peninsula, where 
we unloaded the boat, and carried the baggage about a quarter of a mile to 
firmer ground. We arrived just in time for meridian observation, and 
carried the barometer to the summit of the butte, which is 500 feet above 
the lake. Mr. Preuss set off on foot for the camp, which was about nine 
miles distant ; Basil accompanying him, to bring back horses for the boat 
and baggage. 

The rude-looking shelter we raised on the shore, our scattered baggage 
and boat lying on the beach, made quite a picture ; and we called this the 
Fisherman's camp. Lynosiris graveolens^ and another new species of 
OBioNE, (0. confertifolia — Torr. ^' Frem.^) were growing on the low 
grounds, with interspersed spots of an unwholesome salt grass, on a saline 
clay soil, with a few other plants. 

The horses arrived late in the afternoon, by which time the gale had 
increased to such a height that a man could scarcely stand before it ; and 
we were obliged to pack our baggage hastily, as the rising water of the 
lake had already reached the point where we were halted. Looking back 
as we rode off, we found the place of recent encampment entirely covered. 
The low plain through which we rode to the camp was covered with a 
compact growth of shrubs of extraordinary size and luxuriance. The soil 
was sandy and saline ; flat places, resembling the beds of ponds, that were 
bare of vegetation, and covered with a powdery white salts, being inter- 
spersed among the shrubs. Artemisia tridentata was very abundant, but 
the plants were principally saline ; a large and vigorous chenopodiaceous 
shrub, five to eight feet high, being characteristic, with Fremontia vermicu- 
laris, and a shrubby plant which seems to be a new salicornia. We reached 
the camp in time to escape a thunder storm which blackened the sky, and 
were received with a discharge of the howitzer by the people, who, having 
been unable to see any thing of us on the lake, had begun to feel some 
uneasiness. 

September 11. — To-day we remained at this camp, in order to obtain 
some further observations, and to boil down the water which had been 
brought from the lake, for a supply of salt. Roughly evaporated over the 
fire, the five gallons of water yielded fourteen pints of very fine-grained 
and very white salt, of which the whole lake may be regarded as a saturat- 
ed solution. A portion of the salt thus obtained has been subjected to 
analysis — giving, in 100 parts, the following proportions : 

Analysis of the salt. 

Chloride of sodium, (common salt) . - - . 97.80 

Chloride of calcium ------ 0.61 

Cloride of magnesium -.---. 0.24 



142 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1S4S. 

Sulphate of soda -.-.... 0.23 
Sulphate of lime - - - - - .- - 1.12 



100.00 



Glancing your eye along the map, you will see a small stream entering 
the Utah lake, south of the Spanish fork, and the first waters of that lake 
which our road of 1844 crosses in coming up from the southward. When 
I was on this stream with Mr. Walker in that year, he informed me that on 
the upper part of the rirer are immense bedsof rock salt of very great thick- 
ness, which he had frequently visited. Farther to the southward, the rivers 
which are affluent to tlie Colorado, such as the Rio Virgen, and Gila river, 
near their mouths, are impregnated with salt by the cliffs of rock salt be- 
tween which they pass. These mines occur in the same ridge in which, 
about 120 miles to the northward, and subsequently in their more immediate 
neighborhood, we discovered the fossils belonging to the oolitic period, and 
they are probably connected with that formation, and are the deposite from 
which the Great Lake obtains its salt. Had we remained longer, we should 
have found them in its bed, and in the mountains around its shores. 

By observation, the latitude of this camp is 41'' 15' 50", and longitude 
112^ 06' 43". 

The observations made during our stay give for the rate of the chro- 
nometer 31 ".72, corresponding almost exactly with the rate obtained 
at St. Vrain's fort. Barometrical observations were made hourly during 
the day. This morning wo breakfasted on yampah, and had only kam^s 
for supper ; but a cup of good coffee still distinguished us from our Digger 
acquaintances. 

September 12. — The morning w'as clear and calm, with a temperature 
at sunrise of 32°. We resumed our journey late in the day, returning by 
nearly the same route which we had travelled in coming to the lake ; and, 
avoiding the passage of Hawthorn creek, struck the hills a little below the 
hot salt springs. The flat plain we had here passed over consisted alter- 
nately of tolerably good sandy soil and of saline plats. W^e encamped 
early on Clear creek, at the foot of the high ridge ; one of the peaks of 
which we ascertained by measurement to be 4,210 feet above the lake, or 
about 8,400 feet above the sea. Behind these front peaks the ridge rises 
towards the Bear river mountains, which are probably as high asthe VVind 
river chain. This creek is here unusually well timbered with a variety of 
trees. Among them were birch {beiula,) the narrow-leaved poplar (populus 
angusti/olia,) several kinds of willow (salix,) hawthorn {cratcegus,) al- 
der {alnus viridis,) and cerasus, with an oak allied to quercus alba^ but 
very distinct from that or any other species in the United States. 

We had to-night a supper of sea gulls, which Carson killed near the lake. 
Although cool, the thermometer standing at 47^, musquitoes were sufficient- 
ly numerous to be troublesome this evening. 

September 13. — Continuing up the river valley, we crossed several small 
streams ; the mountains on the right appearing to consist of the blue lime- 
stone, which we had observed in the same ridge to the northward, alternat- 
ing here with a granular quartz already mentioned. One of these streams, 
which forms a smaller lake near the river, was broken up into several chan- 
nels ; and the irrigated bottom of fertile soil was covered with innumerable 
flowers, among which were purple fields of eupatorium purpiireiim^ with 



1S43.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. I43 

helianthi, a handsome solidago {S. canadensis,) and a variety of other 
plants in bloom. Continuing along the foot of the hills, in the afternoon 
we found five or six hot springs gushing out together, beneath a conglome- 
rate, consisting principally of fragments of a grayish-blue limestone, efflor- 
escing a salt upon the surface. The temperature of these springs was 134% 
and the rocks in the bed were colored with a red deposite, and there was 
common salt crystallized on the margin. There was also a white incrust- 
ation upon leaves and roots, consisting principally of carbonate of lime. 
There were rushes seen along the road this afternoon, and the soil under 
the hills was very black, and apparently very good ; but at this time the 
grass is entirely dried up. We encamped on Bear river, immediately below 
a cut-off, the cafion by which the river enters this valley bearing north by 
compass. The night was mild, with a very clear sky ; and I obtained a 
very excellent observation of an occultation of Tau.' Arietis, with other ob- 
servations. Both immeision and emersion ot the star were observed ; but, 
as our observations have shown, the phase at the bright limb generally gives 
incorrect longitudes, and we have adopted the result obtained from the 
emersion at the dark limb, without allowing any weight to the immersion. 
According to these observations, the loiigitude is 1 1 2° 05' 1 2", and the lati- 
tude 4r 42' 43". All the longitudes on the line of our outward journey, 
between St. Vrain's fort and the Dalles of the Columbia, which were not 
directly determined by satellites, have been chronometrically referred to 
this place. 

The people to-day were rather low-spirited, hunger making them very 
quiet and peaceable ; and there was rarely an oath to be heard in the camp — 
not even a solitaiy enfant de garce. It was time for the men with an ex- 
pected supply of j)rovisions from Fitzpatrick to be in the neighborhood ; and 
the gun was tired at evening, to give them notice of our locality, but met 
with no response. 

September 14. — About four miles from this encampment, the trail led us 
down to the river, where we unexpectedly found an excellent ford — the 
stream being widened by an island, and not yet disengaged from the hills 
at the foot of the range. We encamped on a little creek where we had 
made a noon halt in descending the river. The night was very clear and 
pleasant, the sunset tenipeiature being G?*^. 

The people this evening looked so forlorn, t^at 1 gave them permission to 
kill a fat young hoise which 1 had purchased with goods from the Snake 
Indians, and they were very soon restored to gayety and good humor. Mr. 
Preuss and myself could not yet overcome some remains of civilized preju- 
dices, and preferred to starve a little longer ; feeling as much saddened as 
if a crime had been committed. 

The next day we continued up the valley, the soil being sometimes very 
black and good, occasionally gravelly., and occasionally a kind of naked 
salt plains. We found on the way this morning a small encampment of 
two families of Snake Indians, from v.hom we purchased a small quantity 
of kooyah. They had piles of seeds, of three different kinds, spread out 
upon pieces of bulValo robe ; and the squaws had just gathered about a 
bushel of the roots of a thistle, (circium Virginianum. ) They were about 
the ordinary size of carrots, and, as 1 have previously mentioned, are sweet 
and well flavored, requiring only a long preparation. They had a band of 
twelve or fifteen horses, and appeared to be growing in the sunshine with 
about as little labor as the plants they were eating. 



144 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

Shortly afterwards we met an Indian on horseback who had killed an 
antelope, which we purchased from him for a little powder and some balls. 
We crossed the Roseaux, and encamped on the left bank ; halting early for 
the pleasure of enjoying a wholesome and abundant supper, and were pleas- 
antly engaged in protracting our unusual comfort, when Tabeau galloped 
into the camp with news that Mr. Fitzpatrick was encam})ed close by us, 
with a good supply of provisions — flour, rice, and dried meat, and even a 
little butter. Excitement to-night made us all wakeful ; and after a break- 
fast before sunrise the next morning, we were again on the road, and, con- 
tinuing up the valley, crossed some high points of hills, and halted to noon 
on the same stream, near several lodges of Snake Indians, from whom we 
purchased about a bushel of service berries, partially dried. By the gift of 
a knife, I prevailed upon a little boy to show me the kooyah plant, which 
proved to be Valeriana edulis. The root, which constitutes the kooyah, is 
large, of a very bright yellow color, with the characteristic odor, but not so 
fully developed as in the prepared substance. It loves the rich moist soil 
of river bottoms, which was the locality in which I always afterwards found 
it. It was now entirely out of bloom ; according to my observation, flower- 
ing in the months of May and June. In the afternoon we entered a long 
ravine leading to a pass in the dividing ridge between the waters of Bear 
river and the Snake river, or Lewis's fork of the Columbia ; our way being 
very much impeded, and almost entirely blocked up, by compact fields of 
luxuriant artemisia. Taking leave at this point of the waters of Bear river, 
and of the geographical basin which encloses the system of rivers and creeks 
which belong to the Great Salt Lake, and which so richly deseives a future 
detailed and ample exploration, 1 can say of it, in general terms, that the 
bottoms of this river, ( Bear,) and of some of the creeks which I saw, form 
a natural resting and recruiting station for travellers, now, and in all time 
to come. The bottoms are extensive ; water excellent ; timber sufficient ; 
the soil good, and well adapted to the grains and grasses suited to such an 
elevated region. A military post, and a civilized settlement, would be of 
great value here ; and cattle and horses would do well where grass and salt 
so much abound. The lake will furnish exhaustless supplies of salt. All 
the mountain sides here are covered with a valuable nutritious grass, called 
bunch grass, from the form in which it grows, which has a second growth 
in the fall. The beasts ol tbe Indians were fat upon it; our own found it 
a good subsistence ; and its quantity will sustain any amount of cattle, and 
make this truly a bucolic region. 

We met here an Indian family on horseback, which had been out to gather 
service berries, and were returning loaded. This tree was scattered about 
on the hills ; and the upper part of the pass was timbered with aspen ; {pop- 
ulus trem.,) the common blue flowering flax occurring among the plants. 
The approach to the pass was very steep ; and the summit about 6,300 feet 
above the sea — probably only an uncertain approximation, as at the time of 
observation it was blowing a violent gale of wind from the northwest, with 
cwmitZi scattered in masses over the sky, the day otherwise bright and clear. 
We descended, by a steep slope, into a broad open valley — good soil ; from 
four to five miles wide ; coming down immediately upon one of the head- 
waters of the Pannack river, which here loses itself in swampy ground. 
The appearance of the country here is not very interesting. On either side 
is a regular range of mountains of the usual character, with a little timber, 
tolerably rocky on the right, and higher and more smooth on the left, with 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. I45 

still higher peaks looking out above the range. The valley ati'orded a good 
level road ; but it was late when it brought us to water, and we encamped 
at dark. The northwest wind had blown up very cold weather, and the 
arteraisia, which was our fire wood to-night, did not happen to be very 
abundant. This plant loves a dry, sandy soil, and cannot grow in the good 
bottoms where it is rich and moist, but on every little en»inence, where 
water does not rest long, it maintains absolute possession. Elevation above 
the sea about 5,100 feet. 

At night scattered fires glimmered along the mountains, pointing out 
camps ol the Indians ; and we contrasted the comparative security in which 
we travelled through this country, with the guarded vigilance we were com- 
pelled to exert among the Sioux and other Indians on the eastern side of 
the Rocky mountains. 

At sunset the thermometer was at 50'^, and at midnight at 30°. 

September 17. — The morning sky was calm and clear, the temperature 
at daylight being 25°, and at sunrise 20°. There is throughout this moun- 
tain country a remarkable difference between the morning and midday 
temperatures, which at this season was very generally 40^ or 50^, and oc- 
casionally greater; and frequently, after a very frosty morning, the heat in 
a few hours would render the thinnest clothing agreeable. About noon we 
reached the main fork. The Pannack river was before us ; the valley be- 
ing here H mile wide, fertile, and bordered by smooth hills, not over 500 
feet high, partly covered with cedar; a high ridge, in which there is a 
prominent peak, rising behind those on the left. We continued to descend 
this stream, and found on it at night a warm and comfortable camp. Flax 
occurred so frequently during the day as to be almost a characteristic, and 
the soil appeared excellent. The opposite hills on the right are broken here 
into a great variety of shapes. The evening was gusty, with a temperature 
at sunset of 59^. I obtained., about midnight, an observation of an emer- 
sion of the first satellite ; the night being calm and very clear, the stars re- 
markably bright, and the thermometer at 30°. Longitude, from mean of 
satellite and chronometer, 1 12° 29' 52" ; and latitude, by observation, 42° 
44' 40". 

September 18. — The day clear and calm, with a temperature of 25° at 
sunrise. After travelling seven or eight miles, Ave emerged on the plains of 
the Columbia, in sight of the famous '' Three jBaf^es," a well-known land- 
mark in the country, distant about 45 miles. The French word biitte, 
which so often occurs in this narrative, is retained from the familiar lan- 
guage of the country, and identifies the objects to which it refers. It is 
naturalized in the region of the Rocky mountains ; and, even if desirable to 
render it in English, I know of no word which would be its precise equiv- 
alent. It is applied to the detached hills and ridges which rise abruptly, 
and reach too high to be called hills or ridges, and not high enough 
to be called mountains. Knob^ as applied in the western States, is their 
most descriptive term in English. Cerro is the Spanish term ; but no 
translation, or paraphrasis, would preserve the identity of these picturesque 
landmarks, familiar to the traveller, and often seen at a great distance. 
Covered as far as could be seen with artemisia,the dark and ugly appearance 
of this plain obtained for it the name of the Sage Desert ; and we were 
agreeably surprised, on reaching the Portneuf river, to see a beautiful green 
valley with scattered timber spread out beneath us, on which, about four 
miles distant, vver-e glistening the white walls of the fort. The Portneuf 
10 



146 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

runs along the upland plain nearly to its mouth, and an abrupt descent of 
perhaps 200 feet brought us down immediately upon the stream, which at 
the ford is 100 yards wide and 3 feet deep, with clear water, a swift cur- 
rent, and gravelly bed ; but a little higher up the breadth was only about 
35 yards, with apparently deep water. 

In the bottom I remarked a very great number of springs and sloughs, 
with remarkably clear water and gravel beds. At sunset we encamped with 
Mr. Talbot and our friends, who came on to Fort Hall when we went to 
the lake, and whom we had the satisfaction to find all well, neither party 
having met with any mischance in the interval of our separation. They, 
too, had had their share of fatigue and scanty provisions, as there had 
been very little game left on the trail of the populous emigration ; and Mr. 
Fitzpatrick had rigidly husbanded our stock of flour and light provisions, 
in view of the approaching winter and the long journey before us. 

September 19. — This morning the sky was very dark and gloomy, and 
at daylight it began snowing thickly, and continued all day, with cold, dis- 
agreeable weather. At sunrise the temperature was 43'*. I rode up to the 
fort, and purchased from Mr. Grant (the officer in charge of the post) sev- 
eral very indifferent horses, and five oxen in very hne order, which were 
received at the camp with great satisfaction ; and, one being killed at even- 
ing, the usual gayety and good humor w^ere at once restored. Night came 
in stormy. 

September 20. — We had a night ofsnov/ and rain, and the thermometer 
at sunrise was at 34*^ ; the morning was dark, with a steady rain, and there 
was still an inch of snow on the ground, with an abundance on the neigh- 
boring hills and mountains. The sudden change in the weather was hard 
for our animals, who trembled and shivered in the cold — sometimes taking 
refuge in the timber, and now and then coming out and raking the snow 
off the ground for a little grass, or eating the young willows. 

September 21. — Ice made tolerably thick duiing the night, and in the 
morning the weather cleared up ver}' bright, with a temperature at sunrise 
of 29® ; and I obtained a meridian observation for latitude at the fort, with 
observations for time. The sky was again covered in the afternoon, and 
the thermometer at sunset 48®. 

September 22. — The morning was cloudy and unpleasant, and at sunrise 
a cold rain commenced, with a temperature of 41®. 

The early approach of winter, and the difficulty of supporting a large 
party, determined me to send back a number of the men who had become 
satisfied that they were not fitted for the laborious service and frequent pri- 
vation to which they were necessarily exposed, and which there was reason 
to believe would become more severe in the furtherextcnsion of the voyage. 
1 accordingly called them together, and, informing them of my intention to 
continue our journey during the ensuing winter, in the course of which 
they would probably be exposed to considerable hardship, succeeded in 
prevailing upon a number of them to return voluntarily. These were : 
Charles De Forrest, Henry Lee, J. Campbell, Wm. Creuss, A. Vasquez, A. 
Pera, Patrick White, B. Tesson, M. Creely, Francois Lajeunesse, Basil 
Lajeunesse. Among these, I regretted very much to lose Basil Lajeunesse, 
one of the best men in my party, who was obliged, by the condition of his 
family, to be at home in the coming winter. Our preparations having been 
completed in the interval of our stay here, both parties were ready this 
morning to resume their respective routes. 



1843.] CAPT. FKEMONT'S NARRATIVE. I47 

Except that there isagreater quantity of wood used in its construction, Fort 
Hall very much resembles the other trading posts which have been already 
described to you, and would be another excellent post of relief for the emi- 
gration. It is in the low, rich bottom of a valley, apparently 20 miles long, 
formed by the confluence of Portneuf river with Lewis's fork of the Colum- 
bia, which it enters about nine miles below the fort, and narrowing gradu- 
ally to the mouth of the Pannack river, where it has a breadth of only two 
or three miles. Allowing 50 miles for the road from the Beer springs of 
Bear river to Fort Hall, its distance along the travelled road from the town 
of Westport, on the frontier of Missouri, by way of Fort Laramie and the 
great South Pass, is 1,323 miles. Beyond this place, on the line of road 
along the barren valley of the Upper Columbia, there does not occur, for 
a distance of nearly three hundred miles to the westward, a fertile spot of 
ground sufiiciently large to produce the necessary quantity of grain, or 
pasturage enough to allow even a temporary repose to the emigrants. On 
their recent passage, they had been able to obtain, at very high pi ices and 
in insurticient quantity, only such assistance as could be afforded by a 
small and remote trading post — and that a foreign one — which, in the supply 
of its own wants, had necessarily drawn around it some of the resources 
of civilization, but which obtained nearly all its supplies from the distant 
depot of Vancouver, by a difficult water carriage of 250 miles up the Co- 
lumbia river, and a land carriage by pack horses of 600 miles. An Ameri- 
caa military post sufficiently strong to give to their road a perfect security 
against the Indian tribes, who are unsettled in locality and very uncertain 
in their disposition, and which, with the necessary facilities for the repair 
of their equipage, would be able to afford theui relief in stock and grain 
from the produce of the post, would be of extraordinary value to the emi- 
gration. Such a post (and all others which may be established on the line 
to Oregon) would naturally form the nucleus of a settlement, at which 
supplies and repose would be obtained by the emigrant, or trading cara- 
vans, which may hereafter traverse these elevated, and, in many places, 
desolate and inhospitable regions. 

I subjoin an analysis of the soil in the river bottom near Fort Flail, which 
will be of assistance in enabling you to form some correct idea of its gen- 
eral character in the neighboring country. I characterize it as good land, 
but the analysis will show its precise properties. 

Analysis of soil. 

Silica --...... 68.55 

Alumina -_..._. 7,45 

Carbonate of lime --.__. 8.51 

Carbonate of magnesia ------ 5.09 

Oxide of iron --.-_-- 1.40 

Organic vegetable matter - . - - _ 4.74 

Water and loss ------- 4.26 



100.00 



Our observations place this post in longitude 112° 29' 54", latitude 43° 
01 ' 30", and in elevation above the sea 4,500 feet. 

Taking leave of the homeward party, we resumedour journey down. 



148 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

the valley, the weather being very cold, and the rain coming in hard gusts, 
which the wind blew directly in our faces. We forded the Portneuf in a 
storm of rain, the water in the river being frequently up to the axles, and 
about 110 yards wide. Alter the gust, the weather improved a little, and 
we encamped about three miles below, at the mouth of the Pannack river, 
on Lewis's fork, which here has a breadth of about 120 yards. The tem- 
perature at sunset was 42° ; the sky partially covered with dark, rainy 
clouds. 

September 23. — The temperature at sunrise was 32* ; the morning dark, 
and snow falling steadily and thickly, with a light air from rhe southward. 
Profited of being obliged to remain in camp, to take hourly barometrical 
observations from sunrise to midnight. The wind at eleven o'clock set in 
from the northward in heavy gusts, and the snow changed into rain. In 
the afternoon, when the sky brightened, the rain had washed all the snow 
from the bottoms ; but the neighboring mountains, from summit to foot, were 
luminously white — an inauspicious commencement of the autumn, of which 
this was the first day. 

September 24. — The thermometer at sunrise was at 35°, and a blue sky 
in the west promised a fine day. The river bottoms here are narrow and 
swampy, with frequent sloughs ; and after crossing the Pannack, the road 
continued along the uplands, rendered very slippery by the soil of wet clay, 
and entirely covered with artemisia bushes, among which occur frequent 
fragments of obsidian. At noon we encamped in a grove of willows, at the 
upper end of a group of islands, about half a mile above the American falls 
of Snake river. Among the willows here, were some bushes of Lewis and 
Clarke's currant, {ribes aureum.) The river here enteis between low mu- 
ral banks, which consist of a fine vesicular trap rock, the intermediate por- 
tions being compact and crystalline. Gradually becoming higher in its 
downward course, these banks of scoriated volcanic rock form, with occa- 
sional interruptions, its characteristic feature along the whole line to the 
Dalles of the I^ower Columbia, resembling a chasm v.hich had been rent 
through the country, and which the river had afterwards taken for its bed. 
The immediate valley of the river is a high plain, covered with black rocks 
and aitemisias. In the south is a bordering range of mountains, which, 
although not very high, are broken and covered with snow ; and at a great 
distance to the north is seen the high, snowy line of the Salmon river 
mountains, in front of which stand out prominently in the plain the three 
isolated rugged-looking little mountains commonly known as tke Three 
Buttes. Between the river and the distant Salmon river range, the plain 
is represented by Mr. Fitzpatrick as so entirely broken up and rent into 
chasms as to be impracticable for a man even on foot. In the sketch annexed, 
the point of view is low, but it conveys very well some idea of the open 
character of the country, with the buttes rising out above the general line. 
By measurement, the river above is 870 feet wide, immediately contracted at 
the fall in the form of a lock, by jutting piles of scoriaceous basalt, over which 
the foaming river must present a grand appearance at the time of high water. 
The evening was clear and pleasant, with dew ; and at sunset the tempera- 
ture was 54*. By observation, the latitude is 42° 47' 05", and the longi- 
tude 112° 40' 13". A few hundred yards below the falls, and on the left 
bank of the river, is an escarpment from which we obtained some speci- 
mens. 

September 25. — Thermometer at sunrise 47?, The day came in clear, 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. I49 

with a strong gale from the south, which commenced at 11 of the last 
night. The road to-day led along the river, which is full of rapids and 
small falls. Grass is very scanty ; and along the rugged banks are scat- 
tered cedars, with an abundance of rocks and sage. We travelled 14 miles, 
and encamped in the afternoon near the river, on a rocky creek, the bed 
of which was entirely occupied with boulders of a veiy large size. For 
the last three or four miles the right bank of the river has a palisaded ap- 
pearance. One of the oxen was killed here for food. The thermometer 
at evening was at 55®, the sky almost overcast, and the barometer indi- 
cated an elevation of 4,400 feet. 

September 26. — Rain during the night, and the temperature at sunrise 
42*^. Travelling along the river, in about 4 miles we reached a picturesque 
stream, to which we gave the name -of Fall creek. It is remarkable for the 
many falls which occur in a short distance ; and its bed is composed of a 
calcareous tufa, or vegetable rock, composed principally of the remains of 
reeds and mosses, resembling that at the Basin spring on Bear river. 

The road along the river blutfs had been occasionally very bad ; and 
imagining that some rough obstacles rendered such a detour necessary, we 
followed for several miles a plain wagon road leading up this stream, until 
we reached a point whence it could be seen making directly towards a low 
place in the range on the south side of the valley, and we became imme- 
diately aware that we w'ere on a trail formed by a party of wagons, in com- 
pany with whom we had encamped at Elm grove, near the frontier of 
Missouri, and which you will remember were proceeding to Upper Califor- 
nia under the direction of Mr. Jos. Chiles. At the time of their departure, 
no practicable passes were known in the southern Rocky mountains with- 
in the territory of the United States ; and the probable apprehension of dif- 
ficulty in attempting 10 pass near the settled frontier of New Mexico, together 
with the desert character of the unexplored region beyond,had induced them 
to take a more northern and circuitous route by way of the Sweet VVater pass 
and Fort Hall. They had still between them and the valley of the Sacramen- 
to a great mass of mountains, forming the Sierra Nevada^ here commonly 
known as the Great California mountain^ and which were at this time 
considered as presenting an impracticable barrier to wheeled carriages. 
Various considerations had suggested to them a division of the party ; and 
a greater portion of the camp, including the wagons, with the mail and other 
stores, were now proceeding under tho guidance of Mr. Joseph Walker , who 
had engaged to conduct them, by a long sweep to the southward, around 
what is called i\\e point of the mountain; and, crossing through a pass 
known only to himself, gain the banks of the Sacramento by the valley of 
the San Joaquin. It was a long and a hazardous journey for a party in which 
there were women and children. Sixty days was the shortest period of 
time in which they could reach the point of the mountain, and their route 
lay through a country inhabited by wild and badly disposed Indians, and 
very poor in game ; but the leader was a man possessing great and intimate 
knowledge of the Indians, with an extraordinary firmness and decision of 
character. In ihe mean time, Mr. Chiles had passed down the Columbia 
with a party often or twelve men, with the intention of reaching the set- 
tlements on the Sacramento by a more direct course, which indefinite in- 
formation from hunters had indicated in the direction of the head waters 
of the Riviere aux Malheur s ; and having obtained there a reinforcement 
of animals, and a supply of provisions, meet the wagons before they should 



150 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

have reached the point of the mountain, at a place which had been pre- 
viously agreed upon. In the course of our narrative, we shall be able to 
give you some information of the fortune which attended the movements 
of these adventurous travellers. 

Having discovered our error, we immediately regained the line along 
the river, which the road quitted about noon, and encamped at 5 o'clock 
on a stream called Raft river, (Riviere mix Cojeux,) having travelled only 
13 miles. In the north, the Salmon river mountains are visible at a very 
far distance ; and on the left, the ridge in which Raft river heads is about 
20 miles distant, rocky, and tolerably high. Thermometer at sunset 44°, 
with a partially clouded sky, and a sharp wind from the SW. 

September 27. — It was now no longer possible, as in our previous journey, 
to travel regularly every day, and find at any moment a convenient place 
for repose at noon or a camp at night; but the halting places were now 
generally fixed along the road, by the nature of the country, at places where, 
with water, there was a little scanty grass. Since leaving the American 
falls, the road had frequently been very bad ; the many short, steep ascents, 
exhausting the strength of our worn-out animals, requiring always at such 
places tlie assistance of the men to get up each cart, one by one ; and our 
progress with twelve or foiarteen wheeled carriages, though light and made 
for the purpose, in such a rocky country, was extremely slow ; and I again 
determined to gain time by a division of the camp. Accordingly, today 
the parties again separated, constituted very much as before — Mr. Fitzpat- 
rick remaining in charge of the heavier baggage. 

The moining was calm and clear, with a white frost, and the tempera- 
ture at sunrise 24'^. 

To-day the country had a very forbidding appearance ; and, after travel- 
ling 20 miles over a slightly undulating plain, we encamped at a consider- 
able spring, called Swamp creek, rising in low grounds near the point of a 
spur from the mountain. Returning with a small party in a starving con- 
dition from the westward 12 or 14 years since, Carson had met here three 
or four buffalo bulls, two of which were killed. They were among the 
pioneers which had made the experiment of colonizing in the valley of the 
Columbia, and which had failed, as heretofore stated. At sunset the ther- 
mometer was at 46'', and the evening was overcast, with a cold wind from 
the SE., and to-night we had only sage for fire wood. Mingled with the 
artemisia was.a shrubby and thorny chenopodiaceous plant. 

September 28. — Thermometer at sunrise 40'^. The wind rose early to 
a gale from the west, with a very cold driving rain ; and, after an uncom- 
fortable day's ride of 25 miles, we were glad when at evening we found a 
sheltered camp, where there was an abundance of wood, at some elevated 
rocky islands covered with cedar, near the commencement of another long 
cafion of the river. With the exception of a short detention at a deep little 
stream called Goose creek, and some occasional rocky places, we had to- 
day a very good road ; but the country has a barren appearance, sandy, and 
densely covered with the artemisias from the banks of the river to the foot 
of the mountains. Here I remarked, among the sage bushes, green bunches 
of what is called the second growth of grass. The river to-day has had a 
smooth appearance, free from rapids, with a low, sandy hill slope bordering 
the bottoms, in which there is a little good soil. Thermometer at sunset 
45'^, blowing a gale, and disagreeably cold. 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. I5I 

September 2%. — The thermometer at sunrise 36*, with a bright sun, and 
appearance of finer weather. The road for several miles was extremely 
rocky, and consequently bad ; but, entering after this a sandy country, it 
became very good, w^ith no other interruption than the sage bushes, which 
covered the river plain so far as the eye could reach, and, with their uni- 
form tint of dark gray, gave to the country a gloomy and sombre appear- 
ance. All the day the course of the river has been between walls of the 
black volcanic rock, a dark line of the escarpment on the opposite side 
pointing out its course, and sweeping along in foam at places where the 
mountains which border the valley present always on the left two ranges, 
the lower one a spur of the higher ; and, on the oj)posite side, the Salmon 
river mountains are visible at a great distance. Having made 24 miles, 
we encamped about 5 o'clock on Rock creek — a stream having considera- 
ble water, a swift current, and wooded with w^illow. 

September 30. — Thermometer at sunrise 28*^. In its progiess towards 
the river, this creek soon enters a chasm of the volcanic rock, which in 
places along the wall presents a columnar appearance ; and the road be- 
comes extremely rocky whenever it passes near its banks. It is only about 
twenty feet wide where the load crosses it, with a deep bed, and steep banks, 
covered with rocky fragments, with willows and a little grass on its narrow 
bottom. The soil appears to be full of calcareous matter, with which the 
locks are incrusted. The fragments of rock which had been removed by 
the emigrants in making a road where we ascended from the bed of this 
creek were whitened with lime ; and during the afternoon's march I re- 
marked in the soil a considerable quantity of calcareous concretions. To- 
wards evening the sages became more sparse, and the clear spaces were oc- 
cupied by tufts of green grass. The river still continued its course through 
a trough or open canon ; and towards sunset we followed the trail of several 
wagons which had turned in towards Snake river, and encamped, as they 
had done, on the top of the escarpment. There was no grass here, the 
soil among the sage being entirely naked ; but there is occasionally a little 
bottom along the river, which a short ravine of rocks, at rare intervals, 
leaves accessible ; and by one of these we drove our animals down, and 
found some tolerably good grass bordering the water. 

Immediately opposite to us, a subterranean river bursts out directly from 
the face of the escarpment, and falls in white foam to the river below. The 
main river is enclosed with mural precipices, which form its characteristic 
feature along a great portion of its course. A melancholy and strange-look- 
ing country — one of fracture, and violence, and (ire. 

We had brought with us, when we separated from the camp, a large 
gaunt ox, in appearance very poor; but, being killed to-night, to the great 
joy of the people, he was found to be remarkably fat. As usual at such oc- 
currences, the evening was devoted to gayety and feasting ; abundant fare 
now made an epoch among us ; and in this laborious life, in such a country 
as this, our men had but little else to enjoy. The temperature at sunset 
was 65°, with a clear sky and a very high wind. By the observation of 
the evening, the encampment was in longitude 114* 25' 04 ', and in lati- 
tude 42* 38' 44". 

October 1. — The morning clear, with wind from the west, and the ther- 
mometer at 55*. We descended to the bottom, taking with us the boat, for 
the purpose o{ visiting the fall in the opposite clifts ; and while it was being 



152 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 



filled with air, we occupied ourselves in measuring the river, which is 
1,786 feet in breadth, with banks 200 feet high. We were surprised, on our 
arrival at the opposite side, to find a beautiful basin of clear water, formed 
by the falling river, around which the locks were whitened by some saline 
incrustation. Here the Indians had constructed wicker dams, although I 
was informed that the salmon do not ascend the river so far ; and its char- 
acter below would apparently render it impracticable. 

The ascent of the steep hill side was rendered a little difficult by a dense 
growth of shrubs and fields of cane ; and there were frequent hidden crev- 
ices among the rocks, where the water was heard rushing below ; but we 
succeeded in reaching the main stream, which, issuing from between strata 
of the trap rock in two principal branches, produced almost immediately a 
torrent, 22 feet wide, and white with foam. It is a picturesque spot of sin- 
gular beauty ; overshaded by bushes, from under which the torrent glances^ 
tumbling into the white basin below where the clear water contrasted beau- 
tifully with the muddy stream of the river. Its outlet was covered with a 
rank growth of canes, and a variety of unusual plants, and nettles, (wriico; 
canabina,) which, before they were noticed, had set our hands and arms 
on fire. The temperature of the spring was 58^, while that of the river 
was 5\°. The perpendicular height of the place at which this stream issues 
is 45 feet above the river, and 152 feet below the summit of the precipice, 
making nearly 200 feet for the height of the wall. On the hill side here, 
was obtained a specimen consisting principally of fragments of the shells 
of small Crustacea, and which was probably formed by deposition from 
these springs proceeding from some lake or river in the highlands above. 

We resumed our journey at noon, the day being hot and bright; and, 
after a march of 17 miles, encamped at sunset on the river, near several 
lodges of Snake Indians. 

Our encampment was about one mile below the Fishing falls, a -series 
of cataracts with very inclined planes, which are probably so named because 
they form a barrier to the ascent of the salmon ; and the great fisheries 
from which the inhabitants of this barren region almost entirely derive a 
subsistence commence at this place. These appeared to be unusually gay 
savages, fond of loud laughter; and, in their apparent good nature and 
merry character, struck me as being entirely difterent from the Indians 
we had been accustomed to see. From several who visited our camp in 
the evening, we purchased, in exchange for goods, dried salmon. At this 
season they are not very fat, but we were easily pleased. The Indians 
made us comprehend, that when the salmon came up the river in the spring, 
they are so abundant that they merely throw in their spears at random, 
certain of bringing out a fish. 

These poor people are but slightly provided with winter clothing; there 
is but little game to furnish skins for the purpose ; and of a little animal 
which seemed to be the most numerous, it required 20 skins to make a 
covering to the knees. But they are still a joyous talkative race, who 
grow fat and become poor with the salmon, which at least never fail 
them — the dried being used in the absence of the fresh. We are encamped 
immediately on the river bank, and with the salmon jumping up out of the 
water, and Indians paddling about in boats made of rushes, or laughing 
around the fires, the camp to-night has quite a lively appearance. 

The river at this place is more open than for some distance above ; and. 



y 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 155 

for the time, the black precipices have disappeared, and no calcareous mat- 
ter is visible in the soil. The thermometer at sunset 74° ; clear and calm. 

October 2. — The sunrise temperature was 48°; the weather clear and 
calm. Shortly after leaving the encampment, we crossed a stream of clear 
water, with a variable breadth of 10 to 25 yards, broken by rapids, and lightly- 
wooded with willow, and having a little grass on its small bottom land. 
The barrenness of the country is in fine contrast to-day with the mingled 
beauty and grandeur of the river, which is more open than hitherto, with a 
constant succession of falls and rapids. Over the edge of the black cliffs, 
and out from their faces, are falling numberless streams and springs; and 
all the line of the river is in motion with the play of the water. In about 
seven miles we reached the most beautiful and picturesque fall I had seen 
on the river. 

On the opposite side, the vertical fall is perhaps 1 8 feet high ; and nearer, 
the sheet of foaming water is divided and broken into cataracts, where seve- 
ral little islands on the brink and in the river above give it much pictu- 
resque beauty, and make it one of those places the traveller turns again and 
again to fix in his memory. There were several lodges of Indians here, 
from whom we traded salmon. Below this place the river makes a remark- 
able bend ; and the road, ascending the ridge, gave us a fine view of the 
river below, intersected at many places by numerous fish dams. In the 
north, about 50 miles distant, were some high snowy peaks of the Salmon 
river mountains ; and in the northeast, the last peak of the range was visible 
at the distance of perhaps 100 miles or more. The river hills consist of 
very broken massesof sand, coveredevery where with the same interminable 
fields of sage, and occasionally the road is very heavy. We now very fre- 
quently saw Indians, who were strung along the river at every little rapid 
where fish are to be caught, and the cry haggai, haggai, (fish,) was con- 
stantly heard whenever we passed near their huts, or met them in the road. 
Very many of them were oddly and partially dressed in overcoat, shirt, 
waistcoat, or pantaloons, or whatever article of clothing they had been able 
to procure in trade from the emigrants ; for we had now entirely quitted 
the country where hawk'sbells, beads, and vermilion, were the current coin, 
and found that here only useful articles, and chiefly clothing, were in great 
request. These, however, are eagerly sought after ; and for a few trifling 
pieces of clothing, travellers may procure food sufficient to carry them to 
the Columbia. 

We made a long stretch across the upper plain, and encamped on the 
bluff, where the grass was very green and good ; the soil of the upper 
plains containing a considerable proportion of calcareous matter. This 
green freshness of the grass was very remarkable for the season of the year. 
Again we heard the roar of a fall in the river below, where the water in an 
unbroken volume goes over a descent of several feet. The night is clear, 
and the weather continues very warm and pleasant, with a sunset tempera- 
ture of 70°. 

October 3. — The morning was pleasant, with a temperature at sunrise 
of 42°. The road w^as broken by ravines among the hills, and in one of 
these, which made the bed of a dry creek, 1 found a fragmentary stratum, 
or brecciated conglomerate, consisting of flinty slate pebbles, with frag- 
ments of limestone containing fossil shells. 

On the left, the mountains are visible at the distance of twenty or thirty 



154 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

miles, appearing smooth and rather low ; but at intervals higher peaks look 
out from beyond, and indicate that the main ridge, which we are leaving 
with the course of the river, and which forms the northern boundary of 
the Great Basin, still maintains its elevation. About 2 o'clock we ar- 
rived at the ford where the road crosses to the right bank of Snake river. 
An Indian was hired to conduct us through the ford, which proved imprac- 
ticable for us, the water sweeping away the howitzer and nearly drowning 
the mules, which we were obliged to extricate by cutting them out of the 
harness. The river here is expanded into a little bay, in which there are 
two islands, across which is the road of the ford ; and the emigrants had 
passed by placing two of their heavy wagons abreast of each other, so as 
to oppose a considerable mass against the body of water. The Indians 
informed us that one of the men, in attempting to turn some cattle which 
had taken a wrong direction, was carried off by the current and drowned. 
Since their passage, the water had risen considerably ; but, fortunately, we 
had a resource in a boat, which was filled with air and launched; and 
at seven o'clock we were safely encamped on the opposite bank, the animals 
swimming across, and the carriage, howitzer, and baggage of the camp, 
being carried over in the boat. At the place where we crossed, above the 
islands, the liver had narrowed to a breadth of 1,049 feet by measurement, 
the greater portion of which was from six to eight feet deep. We were 
obliged to make our camp where we landed, among the Indian lodges, 
which are semicircular huts made of willow, thatched over with straw, 
and open to the sunny south. By observation, the latitude of our encamp- 
ment on the right bank of the river w'as 42° 55' 58" ; chronometric longi- 
tude 115° 04' 46", and the travelled distance from Fort Hall 208 miles. 

October 4. — Calm pleasant day, with the thermometer at sunrise at 47°. 
Leaving the river at a considerable distance to the left, and following up 
the bed of a rocky creek, with occasional holes of water, in about six miles 
we ascended, by a long and rather steep hill, to a plain 600 feet above the 
river, over which we continued to travel during the day, having a broken 
ridge 2,000 or 3,000 feet high on the right. The plain terminates, where 
we ascended, in an escarpment of vesicular trap rock, which supplies the 
fragments of the creek below. The sky clouded over, with a strong wind 
from the northwest, with a few drops of rain and occasional sunlight, threat- 
ening a change. 

Artemisia still covers the plain, but Purshia tridentata makes its appear- 
ance here on the hill sides and on bottoms of tiie creeks — quite a tree in 
size, and lajger than the artemisia. We crossed several hollows with a 
little water in them, and improved grass ; and, turning off from the road in 
the afternoon in search of water, travelled about three miles up the bed of 
a willow creek, towards the mountain, and found a good encampment, with 
wood and grass, and little ponds of water in the bed of the creek ; which 
must be of more importance at other seasons, as we found there several 
old fixtures for fishing. There wcie many holes on the creek prairie, 
which had been made by the diggers in search of roots. 

Wind increased to a violent gale from the NW., with a temperature at 
sunset of 57°. 

October 5. — The morning was calm and clear, and at sunrise the ther- 
mometer was at 32°. The road to-day was occasionally extremely rocky, 
with hard volcanic fragments, and oui travelling very slow. In about nine 
miles the road brought us to a group of smoking hot springs, with a tern- 



1843.1 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 155 

perature of 164\ There were a fewhelianthi in bloom, with some other 
low plants, and the place was green round about ; the ground warm, and 
the air pleasant, with a summer atmosphere that was very grateful in aday 
of high and cold searching wind. The rocks were covered with a white 
and red incrustation ; and the water has on the tongue the same unpleas- 
ant effect as that of the Basin spring on Bear river. They form several 
branches, and bubble up with force enough to raise the small pebbles seve- 
ral inches. 

The following is an analysis of the deposite with which the rocks are 
incrusted : 

Analysis. 

Silica ...... 72^5 

Carbonate of lime - - - - - 14 60 

Carbonate of magnesia - - - - 1 20 

Oxide of iron ... - - 4,65 

Alumina ...-.- 0.70 

Chloride of sodium, &c. ^ 

Sulphate of soda > . - - 1.10 

Sulphate of lime, &c. j 

Organic vegetable matter ? . _ 

Water and loss S 



5.20 



100.00 



These springs are near the foot of the ridge, (a dark and rugged looking 
mountain.) in which some of the nearer rocks have a reddish appearance, 
and probably consist of a reddish-brown trap, fragments of which were 
scattered along the road after leaving the spring. The roatl was now about 
to cross the point of this mountain, which we judged to be a spur from the 
Salmon river range. We crossed a small creek, and encamped about 
sunset on a stream, which is probably Lake river. This is a small stream, 
some five or six feet broad, with a swift current, timbered principally with 
willows and some few cottonwoods. Along the banks were canes, rose 
bushes, and clematis, with Purshia tridentata and artemisias on the upper 
bottom. The sombre appearance of the country is somewhat relieved in 
coming unexpectedly from the dark rocks upon .these green and wooded 
watercourses, sunk in chasms ; and, in the spring, the contrasted effect 
must make them beautiful. 

The thermometer at sunset 47% and the night threatening snow. 

October 6. — The morning warm, the thermometer 46° at sunrise, and sky 
entirely clouded. After travelling aboutthree milesoveranextremely rocky 
road,, the volcanic fragments began to disappear ; and, entering among the 
hills at the point of the mountain, we found ourselves suddenly in a granite 
country. Here, the character of the vegetation was very much changed ; 
the arteraisia disappeared almost entirely, showing only at intervals towards 
the close of the day, and was replaced by Purshia tridentata, with flowering 
shrubs, and small fields of dieteria divaricata, ^\h\ch gave bloom and gayety 
to the hills. These were every where covered with a fresh and green short 
grass, like that of the early spring. This is the fall or second growth, the 
dried grass having been burnt off by the Indians; and wherever the fire 
has passed, the bright-green color is universal. The soil among the hills 



156 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843, 

is altogether different from that of the river plain, being in many places 
black, in otheis sandy and gravelly, but of a firm and good character, ap- 
pearing to result from the decomposition of the granite rocks, which is pro- 
ceeding rapidly. 

In quitting for a time the artemisia (sage) through which we had been 
so long voyaging, and the sombre appearance of which is so discouraging, 
I have to remark, that I have been inlormed that in Mexico wheat is grown 
upon the ground which produces this shrub ; which, if true, relieves the soil 
from the character of sterility imputed to it. Be this as it may, there is no 
dispute about the grass, which is almost universal on the hills and moun- 
tains, and always nutritious, even in its dry state. We passed on the way 
masses of granite on the slope of a spur, which was very much weathered 
and abraded. This is a white feldspathic granite, with small scales of 
black mica ; smoky quartz and garnets appear to constitute this portion of 
the mountain. 

The road at noon reached a broken ridge, on which were scattered many 
boulders or blocks of granite ; and, passing very small streams, where, with 
a little more than the usual timber, was sometimes gathered a little wilder- 
ness of plants, we encamped on a small stream, after a march of 22 miles, 
in company with a few Indians. Temperature at sunset 51° ; and the night 
was partially clear, with a few stars visible through drilting white clouds. 
The Indians made an unsuccessful attempt to steal a few horses from us — a 
thing of course with them, and to prevent which the traveller is on per- 
petual watch. 

October 7. — The day was bright, clear, and pleasant, with a temperature 
of 45° ; and we breakfasted at sunrise, the biids singing in the trees as 
merrily as if we were in the midst of summer. On the upper edge of the 
hills on the opposite side of the creek, the black volcanic rock reappears ; 
and ascending these, the road passed through a basin, around which the 
hills swept in such a manner as to give it the appearance of an old crater. 
Here were strata and broken beds of black scoriated rock, and hills com- 
posed of the same, on the summit of one of which there was an opening re- 
sembling a rent. We travelled to-day through a country resembling that 
of yesterday, where, although the surface was hilly, the road was good, be- 
ing firm, and entirely free from rocks and artemisia. To our left, below, 
was the great sage plain ; and on the right were the near mountains, which 
presented a smoothly broken character, or rather a surface waved into 
numberless hills. The* road was occasionally enlivened by meeting In- 
dians, and the day was extremely beautiful and pleasant ; and we were 
pleased to be free from the sage, even for a day. When we had trav- 
elled about 8 miles, we were nearly opposite to the highest portion of the 
mountains on the left side of the Smoke river valley ; and, continuing on a 
few miles beyond, we came suddenly in sight of the broad green line of 
the valley of the Riviere Boisee, (wooded river,) black near the gorge 
where it debouches into the plains, with high precipices of basalt, between 
walls of which it passes, on emerging from the mountains. Following 
with the eye its upward course, it appears to be shut in among lofty moun- 
tains, confining its valley in a very rugged country. 

Descending the hills, after travelling a few miles along the high plain, 
the road brought us down upon the bottoms of the river, which is a beau- 
tiful rapid stream, with clear mountain water, and, as the name indicates, 
well wooded with some varieties of timber — among which are handsome cot- 
tonwoods. Such a stream had become quite a novelty in this country, and 



CAPT. FREMONT S NARRATIVE. 



157 



1S43.] 

we were delighted this afternoon to make a pleasant camp under fine old 
trees again. There were several Indian encampments scattered along the 
river; and a number of their inhabitants, in the course of the evening, 
came to the camp on horseback with dried and fresh fish to trade. The 
evening was clear, and the temperature at sunset 57°. 

At the time of the first occupation of this region by parties engaged ill 

the fur trade, a small party of men under the command of Reid, 

constituting all the garrison of a little fort on this river, were surprised and 
massacred by the Indians; and to this event the stream owes its occasional 
name of ReicVs river. 

On tiie 8th we travelled about 26 miles, the ridge on the right having 
scattered pines on the upper parts; and, continuing the next day our road 
along the river bottom, after a day's travel of 24 miles we encamped in 
the evening on the right bank of the river, a mile above the mouth, and 
early the next morning arrived at Fort Boise. This is a simple dwelling- 
house on the right bank of Snake river, about a mile below the mouth of 
Riviere Boissee ; and on our arrival we were received with an agreeable 
hospitality by Mr. Payette, an officer of the Hudson Bay Company, in 
charge of the fort; all of whose garrison consisted in a Canadian engage. 

Here the road recrosses the river, which is broad and deep; but, with 
our good boat, aided by two canoes, which were found at the place, the 
camp was very soon transferred to the left bank. Here we found ourselves 
again surrounded by the sage ; artemisia tridentata, and the different shrubs 
which during our voyage had always made their appearance abundantly 
on saline soils^ being here the prevailing and almost the only plants. 
Among them the surface was covered with the usual saline efflorescences, 
which here consist almost entirely of carbonate of soda, with a small por- 
tion of chloride of sodium. Mr. Payette had made but slight attempts at 
cultivation, his efforts being limited to raising a few vegetables, in which 
he succeeded tolerably well ; the post being principally supported by sal- 
mon. He was very hospitable and kind to us, and we made a sensible im- 
pression upon all his comestibles; but our principal inroad was into the 
dairy, which was abundantly supplied, stock appearing to thrive extremely 
well; and we had an unusual luxury in a present of fresh butter, which 
was, however, by no means equal to that of Fort Hall — probably from 
some accidental cause. During the day we remained here, there were 
considerable numbers of miserable half- naked Indians aiound the fort, who 
had arrived from the neighboring mountains. During the summer, the 
only subsistence of these people is derived from the salmon, of which they 
are not provident enough to lay up a sufficient store for the winter, during 
which many of them die from absolute starvation. 

Many little accounts and scattered histories, together with an acquaint- 
ance which I gradually acquired of their modes of lifo, had left the abori- 
ginal inhabitants of this vast region pictured in my mind as a race of peo- 
ple whose great and constant occupation was the means of procuring a sub- 
sistence ; and though want of space, and other reasons, will prevent me 
from detailing the many incidents which made these things familiar to me, 
this great feature among the characteristics of the country will gradually 
be forced upon your mind. 

Pointing to a group of Indians who had just arrived from the mountains 
on the left side of the valley, and who were regarding our usual appliances 
of civilization with an air of bewildered curiosity, Mr. Payette informed me 



158 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

that, every year since his arrival at this post, he had unsuccessfully en- 
deavored to induce these people to lay up a store of salmon for their winter 
provision. While the summer weather and the salmon lasted, they lived 
contentedly and happily, scattered along the different streams where the 
Jish were to be found ; and as soon as the winter snows began to fall, little 
smokes would be seen rising among the mountains, where they would be 
found in miserable groups, starving out the winter ; and sometimes, accord- 
ing to the general belief, reduced to the horror of cannibalism — the strong, 
of course, preying on the weak. Certain it is, they are driven to any ex- 
tremity for food, and eat every insect, and every creeping thing, however 
loathsome and repulsive. Snails, lizards, ants — all are devoured with the 
readiness and greediness of mere animals. 

In common with all the other Indians we had encountered since reach- 
ing the Pacific waters, these people use the Shoshonee or Snake language, 
w'hich you will have occasion to remark, in the course of the narrative, is 
the universal language over a very extensive region. 

On the evening of the 10th, I obtained, with the usual observations, a 
very excellent emersion of the first satellite, agreeing very nearly with the 
chronometer. From these observations, the longitude of the fort is 116*^ 
47' 00 " ; latitude 43^ 49' 22", and elevation above the sea 2,100 feet. 

Sitting by the fire on the river bank, and wailing for the in^mersion of 
the satellite, which did not take place until after midnight, we heard the 
monotonous song of the Indians, with which they accompany a certain 
game of which they are very fond. Of the poetry we could not judge, 
but the music was miserable. 

October 1 1 . — The morning w'as clear, with a light breeze from the east, 
and a temperature at sunrise of SS*^. A part of a bullock purchased at the 
fort, together with the boat to assist him in crossing, was left here for Mr. 
Fitzpatrick, and at 11 o'clock we resumed our journey ; and directly leav- 
ing the river, and crossing the artemisia plain, in several ascents we reached 
the foot of a fidge, where the road entered a dry sandy hollow, up which 
it continued to the head ; and, crossing a dividing ridge, entered a similar 
one. We met here two poor emigrants, (Irishmen,) who had lost their horses 
two days since — probably stolen by the Indians; and were returning to the 
fort, in hopes to hear something of them there. They had recently had noth- 
ing to eat ; and I halted to unpack an animal, and gave them meat for their 
dinner. In this hollow, the artemisia is partially displaced on the hill sides 
by grass; and descending it — miles, about sunset we reached the Riviere 
aux Malheurs, (the unfortunate or unlucky river,) a considerable stream, 
with an average breadth of50feet,and, at this time, 18 inches depth of vrater. 

The bottom lands were generally one and a half mile broad, covered 
principally with long dry grass ; and we had difficulty to find sufficient 
good gt ass for the camp. With the exception of a bad place of a few hun- 
dred yards long, which occurred in rounding a point of hill to reach the 
ford of the river, the road during the day had been very good. 

October 12. — The morning was clear and calm, and the thermometer at 
sunrise 23*^. My attention was attracted by a smoke on the right side of 
the river, a little below the ford, where I found on the low bank, near the 
water, a considerable number of hot springs, in which the temperature of 
the water was 193"^ . The ground, which was too hot for the naked foot, 
was covered above and below the springs with asi incrustation of common 
salt, very white and good, and fine grained. 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. I59 

Leading for 5 miles up a broad dry branch of the Malheurs river, the 
road entered a sandy hollow, where the surface was rendered firm by the 
admixture of other rock ; being good and level until arriving near the head 
of the ravine, where it became a little rocky, and we met with a number of 
sharp ascents over an undulating surface. Crossing here a dividing ridge, 
it became an excellent road of gradual descent down a very marked hollow ; 
in which, after 10 miles, willows began to appear in the dry bed of a head 
of the Riviere uux Bouleaux, (Birch river;) and descending 7 miles, we 
found, at its junction with another branch, a little water, not very good or 
abundant, but sufficient in case of necessity for a camp. Crossing Birch 
river, we continued for about 4 miles across a point of hill ; the country on 
the left being entirely mountainous, with no level spot to be seen ; whence 
we descended to Snakft river — here a fine-looking stream, with a large body 
of water and a smooth current ; although we hear the roar, and see below 
us the commencement of rapids where it enters among the hills. It forms 
here a deep bay, with a low sand island in the midst ; and its course among 
the mountains is agreeably exchanged for the black volcanic rock. The 
weather during the day had been very bright and extremely hot; but, as 
usual, so soon as the sun went down, it was necessary to put on overcoats. 

1 obtained this evening an observation of an emersion of the first satel- 
lite, and our observations of the evening place this encampment in latitude 
44° 17' 36 ', and longitude 116° 56' 45", which is the mean of the results 
from the satellite and chronometer. The elevation above the sea 1,880 
feet. At this encampment, the grass is scanty and poor. 

October 13. — Tiie moruing was bright, with the temperature at sunset 
28°. The horses had strayed oil' during the night, probably in search of 
grass; and, alter a considerable delay, we had succeeded in finding all but 
two, when, about 9 o'clock, we heard the sound of an Indian song and 
drum approaching; and shortly after, three Cayuse Indians appeared in 
sight) bringing with them the two animals. They belonged to a party 
which had been on a bullalo hunt in the neighboihood of the Rocky moun- 
tains, and were hurrying home in advance. We presented them with 
some tobacco, and other things, with which they appeared well satisfied, 
and, moderating their pace, travelled in company with us. 

We were now about to leave the valley of the great southern branch of 
the Columbia river, to which the absence of timber, and the scarcity of 
water, give the ajipearaiice of a desert, to enter a mountainous region where 
the soil is good, and in which the face of the country is covered with nutri- 
tious grasses and dense forest — land embracing many varieties of trees pe- 
culiar to the country, and on which the timber exhibits a luxuriance of 
growth unknown to the eastern part of the continent and to Europe. This 
mountainous region connects itself in the southward and westward with 
the elevated country belonging to the Cascade or California range ; and, 
as w-ill be remarked in the course of the narrative, forms the eastern limit of 
the fertile and timbered lands along the desert and mountainous region in- 
cluded within the Great Basin — a term which I apply to the intermediate 
region between the Rocky mountains and the next range, containing many 
lakes, with their own system of rivers and creeks, (of which the Great Salt 
is the principal, ) and which have no connexion with the ocean, or the great 
rivers which flow into it. This Great Basin is yet to be adequately explored. 
And here, on quitting the banks of a sterile river, to enter on arable moun- 
tains, the remark may be made, that, on this western slope of our continent, 



160 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

the usual order or distribution of good and bad soil is often reversed ; the 
liver and creek bottoms being often sterile, and darkened with the gloomy 
and barren artemisia ; while the mountain is often fertile, and covered 
with rich grass, pleasant to the eye, and good for flocks and herds. 

Leaving entirely the Snake river, which is said henceforth to pursue its 
course through canons, amidst rocky and impracticable mountains, where 
there is no possibility of travelling with animals, we ascended a long and 
somewhat steep hill ; and crossing the dividing ridge, came down into the 
valley of Burnt river, which here looks like a hole among the hills. The 
average breadth of the stream here is 30 feet ; it is well fringed with the 
usual small timber ; and the soil in the bottoms is good, with better grass 
than we had lately been accustomed to see. 

We now travelled through a very mountainous country ; the stream run- 
ning rather in a ravine than a valley, and the road is decidedly bad and 
dangerous for single wagons, frequently crossing the stream where the 
water is sometimes deep; and all the day the animals were fatigued in 
climbing up and descending a succession of steep ascents, to avoid the pre- 
cipitous hill sides; and the common trail, which leads along the mountain 
side at places where the river strikes the base, is sometimes bad even for 
a horseman. The mountains along this day's journey were composed, near 
the river, of a slaty calcareous rock in a metamorphic condition. It ap- 
pears originally to have been a slaty sedimentary limestone, but its pres|- 
ent condition indicates that it has been altered, and has become partially 
crystalline — probably from the proximity of volcanic rocks. But though 
travelling was slow and fatiguing to the animals, we v/ere delighted with 
the appearance of the country, which was green and refreshing after our 
tedious journey down the parched valley of Snake river. The mountains 
were covered with good bunch grass, [festuca ;) the water of the streams 
was cold and pure ; their bottoms were handsomely wooded with various 
kinds of trees ; and huge and lofty and picturesque precipices were dis- 
played where the river cut through the mountains. 

We found in the evening some good grass and rushes ; and encamped 
among large timber, j)rincipally birch, which had been recently burnt and 
blackened, and almost destroyed by fire. ■ The night was calm and tolera- 
bly clear, with the thermometer at sunset at 59°. Our journey to-day was 
about 20 miles. 

October 14. — The day was clear and calm, with a temperature at sunrise 
of 46°. After travelling about three miles up the valley, we found the 
river shut up by precipices in a kind of canon, and the road makes a cir- 
cuit over the mountains. In the afternoon we reached the river again, by 
another little ravine ; and, after travelling along it for a few miles, left it 
enclosed among rude mountains ; and, ascending a smaller branch, en- 
camped on it about 5 o'clock, very much elevated above the valley. The 
view was every where limited by mountains, on which were no longer seen 
the black and barren rocks, but a fertile soil, with excellent grass, and 
partly well covered with pine. I have never seen a wagon road equally 
bad in the same space, as this of yesterday and to-day. I noticed where 
one wagon had been overturned twice, in a very short distance ; and it 
was surprising to me that those wagons which were in the rear, and could 
not have had much assistance, got through at all. Still, there is no mud ; 
and the road has one advantage, in being perfectly firm. The day had 
been warm and very pleasant, and the night was perfectly clear. 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 161 

Octohtr 15. — The thermometer at daylight was 42°, and at sunrise 40°; 
clouds, which were scatterred over all the sky, disappeared with the rising 
sun. The trail did not much improve until we had crossed the dividing 
grounds between the Brule (Burnt) and Powder rivers. The rock dis- 
played on the mountains, as we approached the summit, was a compact 
trap, decomposing on the exposed surfaces, and apparently an altered ar- 
gillaceous sandstone, containing small crystalline nodules of anolcime, ap- 
parently filling cavities originally existing. From the summit here, the 
whole horizon shows high mountains ; no high plain or level is to be seen; 
and on the left, from south around by the west to north, the mountains are 
black with pines; while, through the remaining space to the eastward., 
they are bald with the exception of some scattered pines. You will re- 
mark that we are now entering a region where all the elevated parts are 
covered with dense and heavy forests. From the dividing grounds we 
descended by a mountain road to Powder river, on an old bed of which we 
encamped. Descending from the summit, we enjoyed a picturesque view 
of high rocky mountains on the right, illuminated by the setting sun. 

From the heights we had looked in vain for a well-known landmark on 
Powder river, which had been described to me by Mr. Payette as Varbre 
seul, (the lone tree ;) and, on arriving at the river, we found a fine tall pine 
stretched on the ground, which had been felled by some inconsiderate 
emigrant axe. It had been a beacon on the road for many years past. 
Our Cayuses had become impatient to reach their homes, and travelled on 
ahead to-day; and this afternoon we were visited by several Indians, who 
belonged to the tribes on the Jolumbia. They were on horseback, and 
were out on a hunting excu.sion, but had obtained no better game than a 
large gray hare, of which each had some six or seven hanging to his sad- 
dle. We were also visited by an Indian who had his lodge and family in 
the mountain to the left. He was in want of ammunition, and brought 
with him a beaver skin to exchange, and which he valued at six charges 
of powder and ball. I learned from him that there are very few of these 
animals remaining in this part of the country. 

The temperature at sunset was 61°, and the evening clear. I obtained, 
with other observations, an immersion and emersion of the third satellite. 
Elevation 3,100 feet. 

October 16. — For several weeks the weather in the day tune has been 
very beautiful, clear, and warm; but the nights, in comparison, are very 
cold. During the night there was ice a quarter of an inch thick in the 
lodge ; and at dayligFit the thermometer was at 16°, and the same at sun- 
rise ; the weather being calm and clear. The annual vegetation now is 
nearly gone, almost all the plants being out of bloom. 

Last night two of our horses had run off again, which delayed us until 
noon ; and we made today but a short journey of 13 miles, the road being 
very good, and encamped in a fine bottom of Powder river. 

The thermometer at sunset was at 61°, with an easterly wind, and par- 
tially clear sky ; and the day has been quite pleasant and warm, though 
more cloudy than yesterday ; and the sun was frequently faint, but it grew 
finer and clearer towards evening. 

October 17. — Thermometer at sunrise 25°. The weather at daylight 

was fine, and the sky without a cloud ; but these came up, or were formed 

with the sun, and at 7 were thick over all the sky. Just now, this appears 

to be the regular course — clear and brilliant during the night, and cloudy 

II 



162 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

during the day. There is snow yet visible in the neighboring mountains, 
which yesterday extended along our route to the left, in a lofty and dark- 
blue range, having much the appearance of the Wind river mountains. 
It is probable that they have received their name of the Blue mountains 
from the dark-blue appearance given to them by the pines. We travelled 
this morning across the affluents to Powder river, the road being good, firm, 
and level ; and the country became constantly more pleasant and interest- 
ing. The soil appeared to be very deep, and is black and extremely good, 
as well among the hollows of the hills on the elevated plats, as on the river 
bottoms ; the vegetation being such as is usually found in good ground. 
The following analytical result shows the precise qualities of this soil, and 
will justify to science the character of fertility which the eye attributes 
to it : 

*>inalysis of Powder river soil. 

Silica -..-.--- 72.30 

Alumina -------- q,25 

Carbonate of lime .-_.-. 6.86 

Carbonate of magnesia ------ 4.62 

Oxide of iron ------- 1.20 

Organic matter ------- 4.50 

Water and loss ------- 4.27 



100.00 



From the waters of this stream, the road ascended by a good and moderate 
ascent to a dividing ridge, but immediately entered upon ground covered 
with fragments of an altered siliceous slate, which are in many places large, 
and render the road racking to a carriage. In this rock the planes of 
deposition are distinctly preserved, and themetamorphism is evidently due 
to the proximity of volcanic rocks. On either side, the mountains here are 
densely covered with tall and handsome trees ; and, mingled with the green 
of a variety of pines, is the yellow of the European larch {pinus larix,) 
which loses its leaves in the fall. From its present color, we were enabled 
to see that it forms a large proportion of the forests on the mountains, and 
is here a magnificent tree, attaining sometimes the height of 200 feet, which. 
I believe is elsewhere unknown. About two in the afternoon we reached 
a high point of the dividing ridge, from which we obtained a good view of 
the Grand Bond — a beautiful level basin, or mountain valley, covered with 
good grass, on a rich soil, abundantly watered, and surrounded by high 
and well-timbered mountains; and its name descriptive of its form — the 
great circle. It is a place — one of the few we have seen in our journey so 
far — where a farmer would delight to establish himself, if he were content 
to live in the seclusion which it nnposes. It is about 20 miles in diameter; 
' and may, in time, form a superb county. Probably with the view of avoid- 
ing a circuit, the wagons had directly descended into the Bond by the face 
of a hill so very rocky and continuously steep as to be apparently imprac- 
ticable ; and, following down on their trail, we encamped on one of the 
branches of the Grand Rond river, immediately at the foot of the hill. I 
had remarked, in descending, some very white spots glistening on the plain, 
and, going out in that direction after we had encamped, I found them to be 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 163 

the bed of a dry salt lake, or marsh, very firm and bare, which was covered 
thickly with a line white powder, containing a large quantity of carbonate 
of soda, (thirty-three in one hundred parts.) 

The old grass had been lately burnt off from the surrounding hills, and, 
wherever the fire had passed, there was a recent growth of strong, green, 
and vigorous grass ; and the soil of the level prairie, which sweeps directly 
up to the foot of the surrounding mountains, appears to be very rich, pro- 
ducing flax spontaneously and luxuriantly in various places. 

,.'inalj/sis of (he Grand Bond soil. 

Silica .....-.- 70.81 

Alumina -..---.. 10.97 
Lime and magnesia - - - - - -1.38 

Oxide of iron - - - -• - - - 2.21 

Vegetable matter, partly decomposed - - - - 8.16 

Water and loss .--.--- 5.46 

Phosphate of lime _-.-.. i.oi 



100.00 



The elevation of this encampment is 2,940 feet above the sea. 

October 18. — It began to rain an hour before sunrise, and continued until 
10 o'clock ; the sky entirely overcast, and the temperature at sunrise 48°. 

We resumed our journey somewhat later than usual, travelling in a 
nearly north direction across this beautiful valley ; and about noon reached 
a place on one of the principal streams, where I had determined to leave 
the emigrant trail, in the expectation of finding a more direct and better 
road across the Blue mountains. At this place the emigrants appeared to 
have held some consultation as to their further route, and finally turned 
directly off to the left ; reaching the foot of the mountain in about three 
miles, which they ascended by a hill as steep and difficult as that by which, 
we had yesterday descended to the Rond. Quitting, therefore, this road, 
which, after a very rough crossing, issues from the mountains by the heads 
of the Uinatilah river, we continued our northern course across the valley, 
following an Indian trail which had been indicated to me by Mr, Payette, 
and encamped at the northern extremity of the Grand Rond, on a slough- 
like stream of very deep water, without any apparent current. There are 
some pines here on the low hills at the creek ; and in the northwest corner 
of the Rond is a very heavy body of timber, which descends into the plain. 
The clouds, which had rested very low along the mountain sides during 
the day, rose gradually up in the afternoon ; and in the evening the sky 
was almost entirely clear, with a temperature at sunset of 47°' Some in- 
different observations placed the camp in longitude 117° 28' 26", latitude 
45° 26' 47" ; and the elevation was 2,600 feet above the sea. 

October 19. — This morning the mountains were hidden by fog; there 
was a heavy dew during the night, in which the exposed thermometer at 
daylight stood at 32°, and at simrise the temperature was 35°. 

We passed out of the Grand Rond by a fine road along the creek, which, 
for a short distance, runs in a kind of rocky chasm. Crossing a low point, 
which was a little rocky, the trail conducted into the open valley of the 
stream — a handsome place for farms ; the soil, even of the hills, being rich 



164 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

and black. Passing through a pohit of phies, which bore evidences of 
being much frequented by the Indians, and in which the trees were some- 
times apparently 200 feet high and 3 to 7 feet in diameter, we hahed 
for a few minutes in the afternoon at the foot of the Blue mountains, on 
«, branch of the Grand Rond river, at an elevation of 2,700 feet. Resuming 
our journey, we commenced the ascent of the mountain through an open 
pine forest of large and stately trees, among which the balsam pine made 
fits appearance ; the road being good, with the exception of one steep ascent, 
with a corresponding descent, which might both have been easily avoided 
by opening a way for a short distance through the timber. It would have 
"been well had we encamped on the stream where we had halted below, as 
the night overtook us on the mountain, and we were obliged to encamp 
without water, and tie up the animals to the trees for the night. We had 
iialted on a smooth open place of a narrow ridge, which descended very 
rapidly to a ravine or piney hollow, at a considerable distance below ; and 
it was quite a pretty spot, had there been water near. But the fires at 
night look very cheerless after a day's march, when there is no preparation 
for supper going on ; and, after sitting some time around the blazing logs, 
Mr. Preuss and Carson, with several others, volunteered to take the India 
rubber buckets and go down into the ravine in search of water. It was a 
very difficult way in the darkness down the slippery side of the steep moun- 
tain, and harder still to climb about half a mile up again ; but they found 
the water, and the cup of coffee (which it enabled us to make) and bread 
were only enjoyed witli greater pleasure. 

At sunset the temperature was 46°; the evening remarkably clear ; and 
I obtained an emersion of the first satellite, which does not give a good re- 
sult, although the observation was a very good one. The chronometric 
leogitude was 117° 28' 34", latitude 45° 38' 07", and we had ascended to 
"an elevation of 3,830 feet. It appeared to have snowed yesterday on the 
mountains, their summits showing very white to-day. 

October 20. — There was a heavy white frost during the night, and at 
sunrise the temperature was 37°. 

The animals had eaten nothing during the night ; and we made an early 
Start, continuing our route among the pines, which were more dense than 
yesterday, and still retained their magnificent size. The larches cluster 
together in masses on the sides of the mountains, and their yellow foliage 
contrasts handsomely with the green of the balsam and other pines. After 
a few miles we ceased to see any pines, and the timber consisted of several 
varieties of spruce, larch, and balsam pine, which have a regularly conical 
%ure. These trees appeared from 60 to nearly 200 feet in height ; the 
>tisua'i circumference being 10 to 12 feet, and in the pines sometimes 21 feet. 
la open places near the summit, these trees became less high and more 
branching, the conical form having a greater base. The instrument car- 
riage occasioned much delay, it being frequently necessary to fell trees and 
remove the fallen timber. The trail we were following led up a long spur, 
with a very gradual and gentle rise. 

At the end of three miles, we halted at an open place near the summit, 
6rom v/hich we enjoyed a fine view over the mountainous country where 
we Viad lately travelled, to take a barometrical observation at the lieight of 
1,760 feet. 

After travelling occasionally through open places in the forest, we were 
^"bliged to cut a way through a dense body of timber, from which we 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 165 

emerged on an open mountain side, where we found a number of smalj 
springs, and encamped after a day's journey of 10 miles. Our elevation 
here was 5,000 feet. 

October 21. — There was a very heavy white frost during the night, and 
the thermometer at sunrise was 30°. 

We continued to travel through the forest, in which the road was ren- 
dered difficult by fallen trunks, and obstructed by many small trees, which 
it was necessary to cut down. But these are only accidental difficulties,, 
which could easily be removed, and a very excellent road may be had 
through this pass, with no other than very moderate ascents or decUvities» 
A laborious day, which had advanced us only six miles on our road, brought 
us in the afternoon to an opening in the forest, in which there was a fine 
mountain meadow, with good grass, and a large clear-water stream — one 
of the head branches of the Umatilah river. During this day's ourney, 
the barometer was broken; and the elevations above the sea, hereafter given^ 
depend upon the temperature of boiling water. Some of the white spruces 
which I measured to-day were twelve feet in circumference, and one of the 
larches ten ; but eight feet was the average circumference of those measured 
along the road. I held in my hand a tape line as I walked along, in ordei 
to form some correct idea of the size of the timber. Their height appeared 
to be from 100 to 180, and perhaps 200 feet, and the trunks of the larches 
were sometimes 100 teet without a limb; but the white spruces were gen- 
erally covered with branches nearly to the root. All these trees have their 
branches, particularly the lower ones, declining. 

October 22. — The white frost this morning was like snow on the ground ^ 
the ice was a quarter of an inch thick on the creek, and the thermometer at 
sunrise was at 20°. But, in a few hours, the day became warm and pleas- 
ant, and our road over the mountains was delightful and full of enjoyment* 

The trail passed sometimes through very thick young timber, in which 
there was much cutting to be done ; but, after travelling a few miles, the 
mountains became more bald, and we reached a point from whicii there- 
was a very extensive view in the northwest. We were here on the westera 
verge of the Blue mountains, long spurs of which, very precipitous on either 
side, extended down into the valley, the waters of the mountain roaring be- 
tween them. On our right was a mountain plateau, covered with a dense 
forest;. and to the westward, immediately below us, was the great Nez 
Perce (pierced nose) prairie, in which d irk lines of timber indicated the 
course of many affluents to a considerable stream that was seen pursuing 
its way across the plain towards what appeared to be the Columbia river* 
This I knew to be the Walahwahh river, and occasional spots along its 
banks, which resembled clearings, were supposed to be the mission or In- 
dian settlements ; but the weather was smoky and unfavorable to far views 
with the glass. The rock displayed here in the escarpments is a compact, 
amorphous trap, which appears lo constitute the mass of the Blue moun- 
tains in this latitude : and all the region of country through which we have 
travelled since leaving the Snake river has been the seat of violent and 
extensive igneous action. Along the Burnt river valley, the strata are evi- 
dently sedimentary rocks, altered by the intrusion of volcanic products^ 
which in some instances have penetrated and essentially changed their 
original condition. Along our line of route from this point to the Califor- 
nia mountains, there seems but little essential change. All our specimens, 
of sedimentary rocks show them to be much altered, and volcanic produc- 
tions appear to prevail throughout the whole intervening distance. 



166 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

The road now led along the mountain side, around heads of the precipi- 
tous ravines ; and, keeping men ahead to clear a road, we passed alternately 
through bodies of timber and small open prairies, and encamped in a large 
meadow, in view of the great prairie below. 

At sunset the thermometer was at 40°, and the night was very clear and 
bright. Water was only to be had here by descending a bad ravine, into 
which we drove our animals, and had much trouble with them, in a very 
3lose growth of small pines. Mr. Preuss had walked ahead, and did not get 
xiito camp this evening. The trees here maintained their size, and one of the 
black spruces measured 1 5 feet in circumference. In the neighborhood of 
the camp, pines have reappeared here among the timber. 

October 22). — The morning was very clear; there had been a heavy 
white frost during the night, and at sunrise the thermometer was at 31°. 

After cutting through two thick bodies of timber, in which I noticed some 
small trees oi hemlock spruce, (periisse,) the forest became more open, and 
we had no longer any trouble to clear a way. The pines here were 11 or 12 
feet in circumference, and about 1 10 feet high, and appeared to love the open 
grounds. The trail now led along one of the long spurs of the mountain, 
descending gradually towards the plain; and after a few miles travelling, we 
emerged finally from the forest, in full view of the plain below, and saw 
the snowy mass of Mount Hood, standing high out above the surrounding 
country, at the distance of ISO miles. The road along the ridge was ex- 
cellent, and the grass very green and good; the old grass having been burnt 
off early in the autumn. About 4 o'clock in the afternoon we reached a 
little bottom on the Walahwalah river, where we found Mr. Preuss, who 
yesterday had reached this place, and found himself too far in advance of 
the camp to return. The stream here has just issued from the narrow ra- 
vines, which are walled with precipices, in which the rock has a brown 
and more burnt appearance than above. 

At sunset the thermometer was at 48°; and our position was in longitude 
118° 00' 39' , and in latitude 45° 53' 35". 

The morning was clear, with a temperature at sunrise of 24°. Crossing 
the river, we travelled over a hilly country with good bunch grass ; the 
river bottom, which generally contains the best soil in other countries, being 
here a sterile level of rock and pebbles. We had found the soil in the Blue 
mountains to be of excellent quality, and it appeared also to be good here 
among the lower hills. Reaching a little eminence, over which the trail 
passed, we had an extensive view along the course of the river, which was 
divided and spread over its bottom in a net work of water, receiving 
several other tributaries from the mountains. There was a band of several 
hundred horses grazing on the hills about two miles ahead ; and as we 
advanced on the road we met other bands, which hidians were driving out 
to pasture also on the hills. True to its general character, the reverse of 
other countries, the hills and mountains here were rich in grass, the bottoms 
barren and sterile. 

In six miles we crossed a principal fork, below Avhich the scattered water 
of the river was gathered into one channel ; and, passing on the way sev- 
eral unfinished houses, and some cleared patches, where corn and potatoes 
were cultivated, we reached, in about eight miles farther, the missionary 
establishment of Dr. Whitman, which consisted, at this time, of one adobe 
house — i. e. built of unburnt bricks, as in Mexico. 

I found Dr. Whitman absent on a visit to the Dalles of the Columbia; 
but had the pleasure to see a fine-looking large family of emigrants, men, 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 167 

women, and children, in robust health, all indemnifying themselves for 
previous scanty fare, in a hearty consumption of potatoes, which are pro- 
duced here of a remarkably good quality. We were disappointed in our 
expectation of obtaining corn meal or flour at this station, the mill belong- 
ing to the mission having been lately burnt down ; but an abundant supply 
of excellent potatoes banished regrets, and furnished a grateful substitute 
for bread. A small town of Nez Perce Indians gave an inhabited and 
even a populous appearance to the station ; and, after remaining about an 
hour, we continued our route, and encamped on the river about four miles 
below, passing on the way an emigrant encampment. 

Temperature at sunset, 49°. 

October 25. — The weather was pleasant, with a sunrise temperature of 
36°. Our road to-day had in it nothing of interest ; and the country of- 
fered to the eye only a sandy, undulating plain, through which a scantily 
timbered river takes its course. We halted about three miles above the 
mouth, on account of grass ; and the next morning arrived at the Nez Perce 
fort, one of the trading establishments of the Hudson Bay Company, a 
few hundred yards above the junction of the Walahwalah with the Colum- 
bia river. Here we had the first view of this river, and found it about 
1,200 yards wide, and presenting the appearance of a fine navigable stream. 
We made our camp in a little grove of willows on the Walahwalah, which 
are the only trees to be seen in the neighborhood; but were obliged to send 
the animals back to the encampment we had left, as there was scarcely a 
blade of grass to be found. The post is on the bank of the Columbia, on 
a plain of bare sands, from which the air was literally filled with clouds of 
dust and sand, during one of the few days we remained here ; this place 
being one of the several points on the river which are distinguished for pre- 
vailing high winds, which come from the sea. The appearance of the post 
and country was without interest, except that we here saw, for the first time, 
the great river on which the course of events for the last half century has 
been directing attention and conferring historical fame. The river is, in- 
deed, a noble object, and has here attained its full uiagnitude. About nine 
miles above, and in sight from the heights about the post, is the junction of 
the two great forks which constitute the main stream — that on which we 
had been travelling from Fort Hall, and known by the names of Lewis's 
fork, Shoshonee, and Snake river; and the North fork, which has retained 
the name o( Columbia, as being the main stream. 

We did not go up to the junction, being pressed for time ; but the union 
of two large streams, coming one from the southeast, and the other from the 
northeast, and meeting in what may be treated as the geographical centre of 
the Oregon valley, thence doubling the volume of water to the ocean, while 
opening two great lines of communication with the interior continent, con- 
stitutes a feature in the map of the country which cannot be overlooked ; 
and it was probably in reference to this junction of waters, and these lines 
of communication, that this post was established. They are important lines, 
and, from the strttcture of the country, must forever remain so — one of them 
leading to the South Pass, and to the valley of the Mississippi; the other 
to the pass at the head of the Athabasca river, and to the countries drained 
by the waters of the Hudson Bay. The British fur companies now use 
both lines : the Americans, in their emigration to Oregon, have begun to 
follow the one which leads towards the United States. Balteaus from tide 



168 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

water ascend to the junction, and thence high up the North fork, or Co- 
lumbia. Land conveyance only is used upon the line of Lewis's fork. 
To the emigrants to Oregon, the Nez Perce is a point of interest, as being,, 
to those who choose it, the termination of their overland journey. The 
broad expanse of the river here invites them to embark on its bosom ; and 
the lofty trees of the forest furnish the means of doing so. 

From the South Pass to this place is about 1,000 miles ; and as it is about 
the same distance from that pass to the Missouri river at the mouth of the 
Kansas, it may be assumed that 2,000 miles is the necessari/ land travel in 
crossing from the United States to the Pacific ocean on this line. From the 
mouth of the Great Platte it would be about 100 miles less. 

Mr. McKinley, the commander of the post, received us with great civili- 
ty ; and both to myself, and the heads of the emigrants who were there at 
the time, extended the rites of hospitality in a comfortable dinner to which 
he invited us. 

By a meridional altitude of the sun, the only observation that the weather 
permitted us to obtain, the mouth of the Walahwalah river is in latitude 
46° 03' 46"; and, by the road we had travelled, 612 miles from Fort Hall. 
At the time of our arrival, a considerable body of the emigrants under the 
direction ofMr.Applegate, a man of considerable resolution and energy, had 
nearly completed the building of a number of Mackinaw boats, in which 
they proposed to continue their further voyage down the Columbia. I had 
seen, in descending the Walahwalah river, a fine drove of several hundred 
cattle, which they had exchanged for Californian cattle, to be received at 
Vancouver, and which are considered a very inferior breed. The other 
portion of the emigration had preferred to complete their journey by land 
along the banks of the Columbia, taking their stock and wagons with them. 

Having reinforced our animals witn eight fresh horses, hired from the 
post, and increased our stock of provisions with dried salmon, potatoes, and 
a little beef, we resumed our journey down the left bank of the Columbia, 
being guided on our road by an intelligent Indian boy, whom I had en- 
gaged to accompany us as far as the Dalles. 

From an elevated point over which the road led, we obtained another far 
view of Mount Hood, 150 miles distant. We obtained on the river bank an. 
observation of the sun at noon, which gave for the latitude 45° 58' OS". The 
country to-day was very unprepossessing, and our road bad ; and as we 
toiled slowly along through deep loose sands, and over fragments of black 
volcanic rock, our laborious travelling was strongly contrasted with the 
rapid progress of Mr. Applegate's fleet of boats, which suddenly came glid- 
ing swiftly down the broad river, which here chanced to be tranquil and 
smooth. At evening we encamped on the river bank, where there was 
very little grass, and less timber. We frequently met Indians on the road, 
and they were collected at every favorable spot along the river, 

October 29. — The road continued along the river, and in the course of 
the day Mount St. Helens, another snowy peak of the Cascade range, was 
visible. We crossed the Umatilah river at a fall near its mouth. This 
stream is of the same class as the Walahwalah river, with a bed of volcanic 
rock, in places split into fissures. Our encampment was similar to that of 
yesterday; there was very little grass, and no wood. The Indians brought 
us some pieces for sale, which were purchased to make our fires. 

October 31. — By observation, our camp is in latitude 45° 50' 05", and 



1843.] CAPT. PREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 169 

longitude 119° 22' IS". The night has been cold, and we have white 
frost this morning, with a temperature at daylight of 25°, and at sunrise of 
24°. The early morning was very clear, and the stars bright ; but, as 
usual since we are on the Columbia, clouds formed immediately with the 
rising sun. The day continued fine, the east being covered with scattered 
clouds, but the west remaining clear; showing the remarkable cone-like 
peak of Mount Hood brightly drawn against the sky. This was in view 
all day in the southwest, but no other peaks of the range were visible. 
Our road was a bad one, of very loose deep sand. We met on the way a 
party of Indians unusually well dressed, wearing clothes of civilized texture 
and form. They appeared intelligent, and, in our slight intercourse, im- 
pressed me with the belief that they possessed some aptitude for acquiring 
languages. 

We continued to travel along the river, the stream being interspersed 
with many sand bars (it being the season of low water) and with many 
islands, and an apparently good navigation. Small willows were the only 
wood ; rock and sand the prominent geological feature. The rock of this 
section is a very compact and tough basalt, occurring in strata which have 
the appearance of being broken into fragments, assuming the form of co- 
lumnar hills, and appearing always in escarpments, with the broken frag- 
ments strewed at the base and over the adjoining country. 

We made a late encampment on the river, and used to-night purshia 
iridentata for fire wood. Among the rocks which formed the bank, was 
very good green grass. Latitude 45° 44' 23", longitude 1 19° 45' 09". 

November 1. — Mount Hood is glowing in the sunlight this morning, and 
the air is pleasant, with a temperature of 38°. We continued down the 
river, and, passing through a pretty green valley, bounded by high precipi- 
tous rocks, encamped at the lower end. 

On the right shore, the banks of the Columbia are very high and steep ; 
the river is 1,690 feet broad, and dark blufls of rock give it a picturesque 
appearance. 

November 2. — The river here entered among bluffs, leaving no longer 
room for a road ; and we accordingly left it, and took a more inland way 
among the river hills ; on which we had no sooner entered, than we found 
a great improvement in the country. The sand had disappeared, and the 
soil was good, and covered with excellent grass, although the surface was 
broken into high hills, with uncommonly deep valleys. At noon we crossed 
John Day's river, a clear and beautiful stream, with a swift current and a 
bed of rolled stones. It is sunk in a deep valley, which is characteristic 
of all the streams in this region ; and the hill we descended to reach it well 
deserves the name of mountain. Some of the emigrants had encamped 
on the river, and others at the summit of the farther hill, the ascent of 
which had probably cost their wagons a day's labor ; and others again had 
halted for tlie night a few miles beyond, where they had slept vi'ithout 
water. We also encamped in a grassy hollow without water; but as we 
had been forewarned of this privation by the guide, the animals had all 
been watered at the river, and we had brought with us a suflScient quantity 
for the night. 

November 3. — After two hours' ride through a fertile, hilly country, 
covered as all the upland here appears to be with good green grass, we de- 
scended again into the river bottom, along which we resumed our sterile 
road, and in about four miles reached the ford of the Fall river, {Riviere 



170 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

uux Chutes,) a considerable tributary to the Columbia. We had heard, on 
reaching the Nez Perce fort, a repetition of the account in regard to the 
unsettled character of the Columbia Indians at the present time ; and to 
our Ultle party they had at various points manifested a not very friendly 
disposition, in several attempts to steal our horses. At this place I expected 
to find a badly disposed band, who had plundered a party of 14 emigrant 
men a few days before, and taken away their horses ; and accordingly we 
made the necessary preparations for our security, but happily met with no 
difficulty. 

The river was high, divided into several arms, with a rocky island at its 
outlet into the Columbia, which at this place it rivalled ;n size, and ap- 
parently deserved its highly characteristic name, which is received from 
one of its many falls some forty miles up the river. It entered the Colum- 
bia with a roar of falls and rapids, and is probably a favorite fishing station 
among the Indians, with whom both banks of the river were populous; 
but they scarcely paid any attention to us. The ford was very difficult at 
this time, and, had they entertained any bad intentions, they were offered a 
good opportunity to carry them out, as I drove directly into the river, and 
during the crossing the howitzer was occasionally several feet under water, 
and a number of the men appeared to be more often below than above. 
Our guide was well acquainted with the ford, and we succeeded in getting 
every thing safe over to the left bank. We delayed here only a short time 
to put the gun in order, and, ascending a long mountain hill, left both 
rivers, and resumed our route again among the interior hills. 

The roar of the Falls of the Columbia is heard from the heights, where 
we halted a few moments to enjoy a fine view of the river below. In the 
season of high water it would be a very interesting object to visit, in order 
to witness what is related of the annual submerging of the fall under the 
waters which back up from the basin below, constituting a great natural 
lock at this place. But time had become an object of serious consideration ; 
and the Falls, in their present state, had been seen and described by many. 

After a day's journey of 17 miles, we encamped among the hills on a 
little clear stream, where, as usual, the Indians immediately gathered round 
us. Among them was a very old man, almost blind from age, with long 
and very white hair. I happened of my own accord to give this old man 
a present of tobacco, and was struck with the impression which my un- 
propitiated notice made on the Indians, who appeared in a remarkable man- 
ner acquainted with the real value of goods, and to understand the equiva- 
lents of trade. At evening, one of thein spoke a few words to his people, 
and, telling me that we need entertain no uneasiness in regard to our ani- 
mals, as none of them would be disturbed, they went all quietly away. In 
the morning, when they again came to the camp, I expressed to them the 
gratification we felt at their reasonable conduct, making them a present of 
some large knives and a few smaller articles. 

November 4. — The road continued among the hills, and, reaching an 
eminence, we saw before us in a little green valley, watered by a clear 
stream, a tolerably large valley, through which the trail passed. 

In comparison with the Indians of the Rocky mountains and the great 
eastern plain, these are disagreeably dirty in their habits. Their huts were 
crowded with half-naked women and children, and the atmosphere within 
any thing but pleasant to persons who had just been riding in the fresh 
morning air. We were somewhat amused with the scanty dress of one 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S .\ARRATIVE. 171 

woman, who, in common with the others, rushed out of the huts on our 
arrival, and who, in default of other covering, used a child for a fig leaf. 

The road in about half an hour passed near an elevated point, from 
which we overlooked the valley of the Columbia for many miles, and saw 
in the distance several houses surrounded by fields, which a chief, who had 
accompanied us from the village, pointed out to us as the Methodist mis- 
sionary station. 

In a few miles we descended to the river, which we reached at one of 
its remarkably interesting features, knov/n as the Dalles of the Coluynbia. 
The whole volume of the river at this place passed between the walls of a 
chasm, which has the appearance of havhig been rent through the basaltic 
3trata which form the valley rock of the region. At the narrowest place 
we found the breadth, by measurement, 58 yards, and the average height 
of the walls above the water 25 feet ; forming a trough between the 
rocks — whence the name, probably applied by a Canadian voyageur. The 
mass of water, in the present low state of the river, passed swiftly between, 
deep and black, and curled into many small whirlpools and counter cur- 
rents, but unbroken by foam, and so still that scarcely the sound of a ripple 
was heard. The rock, for a considerable distance from the river, was 
worn over a large portion of its surface into circular holes and well-like 
cavities, by the abrasion of the river, which, at the season of high waters, 
is spread out over the adjoining bottoms. 

In the recent passage through this chasm, ah unfortunate event had oc- 
curred to Mr. Applegate's party, in the loss of one of their boats, which had 
been carried under water in the midst of the Dalles, and two of Mr. Ap- 
plegate's children and one man drowned. This misfortune was attributed 
only to want of skill in the steersman, as at this season there is no impedi- 
ment to navigation ; although the place is entirely impassable at high water, 
when boats pass safely over the great falls above, in the submerged state 
in which they then find themselves. 

The basalt here is precisely the same as that which constitutes the rock 
of the valley higher up the Columbia, being very compact, with a few 
round cavities. 

We passed rapidly three or four miles down the level valley, and en- 
camped near the mission. The character of the forest growth here 
changed, and we found ourselves, with pleasure, again among oaks and 
other forest trees of the east, to which we had long been strangers; and the 
hospitable and kind reception with which we were welcomed among our 
country people at the mission aided the momentary illusion of home. 

Two good-looking wooden dwelling houses, and a large school house, 
with stables, barn, and garden, and large cleared fields between the houses 
and the river bank, on which were scattered the wooden huts of an Indian 
village, gave to the valley the cheerful and busy air of civilization, and had 
in our eyes an appearance of abundant and enviable comfort. 

Our land journey found here its western termination. The delay in- 
volved in getting our camp to the right bank of the Columbia, and in open- 
ing a road through the continuous forest to Vancouver, rendered a journey 
along the river impracticable ; and on this side the usual road across the 
mountain required strong and fresh animals, there being an interval of 
three days in which they could obtain no food. I therefore wrote imme- 
diately to Mr. Fitzpatrick, directing him to abandon the carts at the Walah- 
walah missionary station, and, as soon as the necessary pack saddles could 



172 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

be made, which his party required, meet me at the Dalles, from which point 
I proposed to commence our homeward journey. The day after our ar- 
rival being Sunday, no business could be done at the mission; but on. 
Monday Mr. Perkins assisted me in procuring from the Indians a large ca- 
noe, in which I designed to complete our journey to Vancouver, where I 
expected to obtain the necessary supply of provisions and stores for our 
winter journey. Three Indians, from the family to whom the canoe be- 
longed, were engaged to assist in working her during the voyage, and, with 
them, our water party consisted of Mr. Preuss and myself, with Bernier and 
Jacob Dodson. In charge of the party which was to remain at the Dalles 
I left Carson, with instructions to occupy the people in making pack saddles 
and refitting their equipage. The village from which we were to take the 
canoe was on the right bank of the river, about ten miles below, at the 
mouth of the Tinanens creek; and while Mr. Preuss proceeded down the 
river with the instruments, in a little canoe paddled by two Indians, Mr. 
Perkins accompanied me with the remainder of the party by land. The 
last of the emigrants had just left the Dalles at the time of our arrival, trav- 
elling some by water and others by land, making ark-like rafts, on which 
they had embarked their families and household, with their large wagons 
and other furniture, while their stock were driven along the shore. 

For about five miles below the Dalles, the river is narrow, and probably 
very deep ; but during this distance it is somewhat open, with grassy bot- 
toms on the left. Entering, then, among the lower mountains of the Cas- 
cade range, it assumes a general character, and high and steep rocky hills 
shut it in on either side, rising abruptly in places to the height of 1,500 
feet above the water, and gradually acquiring a more mountainous char- 
acter as the river approaches the Cascades. 

After an hour's travel, when the sun was nearly down, we searched along 
the shore for a pleasant place, and halted to prepare supper. We had been 
well supplied by our friends at the mission with delicious salted salmon, 
which had been taken at the fattest season ; also, with potatoes, bread, cof- 
fee, and sugar. We were delighted at a change in our mode of travelling 
and living. The canoe sailed smoothly down the river: at night we en- 
camped upon the shore, and a plentiful supply of comfortable provisions 
supplied the first of wants. We enjoyed the contrast which it presented to 
our late toilsome marchings, our night watchings, and our frequent priva- 
tion of food. We were a motley group, but all happy: three unknown In- 
dians; Jacob, a colored man ; Mr. Preuss, a German ; Bernier, Creole 
French ; and myself. 

Being now upon the ground explored by the South Sea expedition under 
Captain Wilkes, and having accomplished the object of uniting my survey 
with his, and thus presenting a connected exploration from the Mississippi 
to the Pacific, and the winter being at hand, I deemed it necessary to econ- 
omize time by voyaging in the night, as is customary here, to avoid the 
high winds, which rise with the morning, and decline with the day. 

Accordingly, after an hour's halt, we again embarked, and resumed our 
pleasant voyage down the river. The wind rose to a gale after several 
hours ; but the moon was very bright, and the wind was fair, and the canoe 
glanced rapidly down the stream, the waves breaking into foam alongside; 
and our night voyage, as the wind bore us rapidly along between the dark 
mountains, was wild and interesting. About midnight we put to the shore 
on a rocky beach, behind which was a dark-looking pine forest. We built 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. I73 

up large fires among the rocks, which were in large masses round about ; 
and, arranging our blankets on the most sheltered places we could find, 
passed a delightful night. 

After an early breakfast, at daylight we resumed our journey, the weather 
being clear and beautiful, and the river smooth and still. On either side 
the mountains are all pine-timbered, rocky, and high. We were now ap- 
proaching one of the marked features of the lower Columbia, where the 
liver forms a great cascade, with a series of rapids, in breaking through the 
range of mountains to which the lofty peaks of Mount Hood and St. Helens 
belong, and which rise as great pillars of snow on either side of the passage. 
The main branch of the Sacramento river, and the Tlamath, issue in cas- 
cades from this range ; and the Columbia, breaking through it in a succes- 
sion of cascades, gives the idea of cascades to the whole range ; and hence 
the name of the Cascade Range, which it bears, and distinguishes it from 
the Coast Range lower down. In making a short turn to the south, the river 
forms the cascades in breaking over a point of agglomerated masses of rock, 
leaving a handsome bay to the right, with several rocky pine-covered 
islands, and the mountains sweep at a distance around a cove where several 
small streams enter the bay. In less than an hour we halted on the left 
bank, about five minutes' walk above the cascades, where there were several 
Indian huts, and where our guides signified it was customary to hire Indians 
to assist in making the portage. "When travelling with a boat as light as 
a canoe, which may easily be carried on the shoulders of the Indians, this 
is much the better side of the river for the portage, as the ground here is 
very good and level, being a handsome bottom, which I remarked was 
covered {as ivas now always the case along the riier) with a growth of 
green and fresh-looking grass. It was long before we could come to an un- 
derstanding with the Indians ; but at length, when they had first received 
the price of their assistance hi goods, they went vigorously to work; and, 
in a shorter time than had been occupied in making our arrangements, 
the canoe, instruments, and baggage, were carried through (a distance of 
about half a mile) to the bank below the main cascade, where we again em- 
barked, the water being white with foam among ugly rocks, and boihng 
into a thousand whirlpools. The boat passed withgreat rapidity, crossing 
and recrossing in the eddies of the current. After passing through about 2 
miles of broken water, we ran some wild-looking rapids, which are called 
the Lower Rapids, being the last on the river, which below is tranquil and 
smooth — a broad, magnificent stream. On a low broad point on the right 
bank of the river, at the lower end of these rapids, were pitched many 
tents of the emigrants, who were waiting here for their friends from above, 
or for boats and provisions which were expected from Vancouver. In our 
passage down the rapids, I had noticed their camps along the shore, or 
transporting their goods across the portage. This portage makes a head 
of navigation, ascending the river. It is about two miles in length; ani 
above, to the Dalles, is 45 miles of smooth and good navigation. 

We glided on without further interruption between very rocky and high 
steep mountains, which sweep along the river valley at a little distance, 
covered with forests of pine, and showing occasionally lofty escarpments of 
red rock. Nearer, the shore is bordered by steep escarped hills and huge 
vertical rocks, from which the waters of the mountain reach the river in a 
variety of beautiful falls, sometimes several hundred feet in height. Occa- 
sionally along the river occurred pretty bottoms, covered with the greenest 



174 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

verdure of the spring. To a professional farmer, however, it does not offer 
many places of sufficient extent to be valuable for agriculture ; and after 
passing a few miles below the Dalles, I had scarcely seen a place on the 
south shore where wagons could get to the river. The beauty of the 
scenery was heightened by the continuance of very delightful weather, re- 
sembling the Indian summer of the Atlantic. A few miles below the cas- 
cades we passed a singular isolated hill ; and in the course of the next six 
miles occurred five very pretty falls from the heights on the left bank, one 
of them being of a very picturesque character ; and towards sunset we 
reached a remarkable point of rocks, distinguished, on account of prevailing 
high winds, and the delay it frequently occasions to the canoe navigation, 
by the name of Cape Horn. It borders the river in a high wall of rock, 
which comes boldly down into deep water ; and in violent gales down the 
river, and from the opposite shore, which is the prevailing direction of 
strong winds, the water is dashed against it with considerable violence. It 
appears to form a serious obstacle to canoe travelling ; and I was informed 
by Mr. Perkins, that in a voyage up the river he had been detained two 
weeks at this place, and was finally obliged to return to Vancouver. 

The winds of this region deserve a particular study. They blow in cur- 
rents, which show them to be governed by fixed laws ; and it is a problem 
how far they may come from the mountains, or from the ocean through the 
breaks in the mountains which let out the river. 

The hills here had lost something of their rocky appearance, and had 
already begun to decline. As the sun went down, we searched along the 
river for an inviting spot ; and, finding a clean rocky beach, where some 
large dry trees were lying on the ground, we ran our boat to the shore ; 
and, after another comfortable supper, ploughed our way along the river in 
darkness. Heavy clouds covered the sky this evening, and the wind began 
to sweep in gusts among the trees, as if bad weather were coming. As we 
advanced, the hills on both sides grew constantly lower; on the right, re- 
treating from the shore, and forming a somewhat extensive bottom of inter- 
mingled prairie and wooded land. In the course of a few hours, and op- 
posite to a small stream coming in from the north, called the Tea Prairie 
river, the highlands on the left declined to the plains, and three or four miles 
below disappeared entirely on both sides, and the river entered the low 
country. The river had gradually expanded ; and when we emerged from 
the highlands, the opposite shores were so distant as to appear indistinct in 
the uncertainty of the light. About 10 o'clock our pilots halted, apparently to 
confer about the course ; and, after a little hesitation, pulled directly across 
an open expansion of the river, where the waves were somewhat rough for 
a canoe, the wind blowing very fresh. Much to our surprise, a few min- 
utes afterwards we ran aground. Backing off our boat, we made repeated 
trials at various places to cross what appeared to be a point of shifting sand 
bars, where we had attempted to shorten the way by a cut-off. Finally, one 
of our Indians got into the water, and waded about until he found a channel 
sufficiently deep, through which we wound along after him, and in a few 
minutes again entered the deep water below. As we paddled rapidly down 
the river, we heard the noise of a saw mill at work on the right bank ; and, 
letting our boat float quietly down, we listened with pleasure to the unusual 
soimds : and before midnight encamped on the bank of the river, about a 
mile above Fort Vancouver. Our fine dry weather had given place to a 
dark cloudy night. At midnight it began to rain ; and we found ourselves 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 175 

suddenly in the gloomy and humid season, which, in the narrow region 
lying between the Pacific and the Cascade mountains, and lor a considerable 
distance along the coast, supplies the place of winter. 

In the morning, the first object that attracted my attention was the barque 
Columbia, lying at anchor near the landing. She was about to start on her 
voyage to England, and was now ready for sea ; being detained only in 
waiting the arrival of the express batteaus, which descend the Columbia 
and its north fork with the overland mail from Canada and Hudson's bay, 
which had been delayed beyond their usual time, i immediately waited 
upon Dr. McLaughlin, the executive officer of the Hudson Bay Company 
in the territory west of the Rocky mountains, who received me with the 
courtesy and hospitality for which he has been eminently distinguished, 
and which makes a forcible and delightful impression on a traveller from 
the long wilderness from which we had issued. I was immediately sup- 
plied by him with the necessary stores and provisions to refit and support 
my party in our contemplated winter journey to the States; and also with 
a Mackinaw boat and canoes, manned with Canadian and Iroquois voya- 
geurs and Indians, for their transportation to the Dalles of the Columbia. 
In addition to this efficient kindness in furnishing me with these necessary 
supplies, I received from him a warm and gratifying sympathy in the suf- 
fering which his great experience led him to anticipate for us in our home- 
ward journey, and a letter of recommendation and credit for any officers 
of the Hudson Bay Company into whose posts we might be driven by 
unexpected misfortune. 

Of course, the future supplies for my party were paid for, bills on the 
Government of the United States being readily taken; but every hospitable 
attention was extended to me, and I accepted an invitation to take a room 
in the fort, ^^and to Diake myself at home while 1 staid.'' 

I found many American emigrants at the fort; others had already crossed 
the river into their land of promise — the Walahmette valley. Others were 
daily arriving; and all of them had been furnished with shelter, so far as 
it could be afforded by the buildings connected with the establishment. 
Necessary clothing and provisions (the latter to be afterwards returned in 
kind from the produce of their labor) were also furnished. This friendly 
assistance was of very great value to the emigrants, whose families were 
otherwise exposed to much suffering in the winter rains, whicli had now 
commenced, at the same time that they were in want of all the common 
necessaries of life. Those who had taken a water conveyance at the Nez 
Perce fort continued to arrive safely, with no other accident than has been 
already mentioned. The party which had passed over the Cascade moun- 
tains were reported to have lost a number of their animals; and those who 
had driven their stock down the Columbia had brought them safely in, and 
found for them a ready and very profitable market, and were already pro- 
posing to return to the States in the spring for another supply. 

In the space of two days our preparations had been completed, and we 
were ready to set out on our return. It would have been very gratifying 
to have gone down to the Pacific, and, solely in the interest and in the love 
of geography, to have seen the ocean on the western as well as on the east- 
ern side of the continent, so as to give a satisfactory completeness to the 
geographical picture which had been formed in our minds ; but the rainy 
season had now regularly set in, and the air was filled with fogs and rain, 
which left no beauty in any scenery, and obstructed observations. The 



176 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

object of my instructions had been entirely fulfilled in having connected 
our reconnoissance with the surveys of Captain Wilkes; and although it 
would have been agreeable and satisfactory to terminate here also our 
ruder astronomical observations, I was not, for such a reason, justified to 
make a delay in waiting for favorable weather. 

Near sunset of the 10th, the boats left the fort, and encamped after 
making only a few miles. Our flotilla consisted of a Mackinaw barge and 
three canoes — one of them that in which we had descended the river; and 
a party in all of 20 men. One of the emigrants, Mr. Burnet, of Missouri, 
who had left his family and property at the Dalles, availed himself of the 
opportunity afforded by the return of our boats to bring them down to 
Vancouver. This gentleman, as well as the Messrs. Applegate, and others 
of the emigrants whom I saw, possessed intelligence and character, with 
the moral and intellectual stamina, as well as the enterprise, which give 
solidity and respectabihty to the foundation of colonies. 

November 11. — The morning was rainy and misty. We did not move 
with the practised celerity of my own camp; and it was near 9 o'clock 
when our motley crew had finished their breakfast and were ready to start. 
Once afloat, however, they worked steadily and well, and we advanced at 
a good rate up the river ; and in the afternoon a breeze sprung up, which 
enabled us to add a sail to the oars. At evening we encamped on a warm- 
looking beach, on the right bank, at the fool of the high river hill, immedi- 
ately at the lower end of Cape Horn. On the opposite shore is said to be 
a singular hole in the mountain, from which the Indians believe comes the 
wind producing these gales. It is called the Devil's hole; and the Indians, 
I was told, have been resolving to send down one of their sUves to explore 
the region below. At dark, the wind shifted into its stormy quarter, gradu- 
ally increasing to a gale from the southwest; and the sky becoming clear, 
I obtained a good observation of an emersion of the first satellite; the result 
of which, being an absolute observation, I have adopted for the longitude 
of the place. 

November 12. — The wind during the night had increased to so much 
violence, that the broad river this morning was angry and white ; the 
waves breaking with considerable force against this rocky wall of the cape. 
Our old Iroquois pilot was unwilling to risk the boats around the point, 
and I was not disposed to hazard the stores of our voyage for the delay of 
a day. Further observations were obtained during the day, giving for the 
latitude of the place 45° 33' 09"; and the longitude, obtained from the 
satellite, is 122° 6' 15". 

Novemher 13. — We had a day of disagreeable and cold rain; and, late 
in the afternoon, began to appr )ach the rapids of the cascades. There is 
here a high timbered island on the left shore, below which, in descending, 
I had remarked in a bluff on the river the extremities of trunks of trees 
appearing to be imbedded in the rock. Landing here this afternoon, I 
found in the lower part of the escarpment a stratum of coal and forest 
trees, imbedded between strata of altered clay containing the remains of 
vegetables, the leaves of which indicate that the plants were dicotyledonous. 
Among these, the stems of some of the ferns are not mineralized, but merely 
charred, retaining still their vegetable structure and substance; and in this 
condition a portion also of the trees remain. The indurated appearance 
and compactness of the strata, as well, perhaps, as the mineralized condi- 
tion of the coal, are probably due to igneous action. Some portions of the 



1S43.] Cx\PT. FREMOxVfS NARRATIVE. I77 

coal precisely resemble in aspect the cannel coal of England, and, with the 
accompanying tbssils, have been referred to tiie tertiary formation. 

These strata appear to rest upon a mass of agglomerated rock, being but 
a few feet above the water of the river; and over them is the escarpment 
of perhaps eighty feet, rising gradually in the rear towards the mountains. 
The wet and cold evening, and near approach of night, prevented me from 
making any other than a very slight examination. 

The current was now very swit^t, and we were obliged to corddle the 
boat along the left shore, where the bank was covered with large masses of 
rocks. Night overtook us at the upper end of the island, a short distance 
below the cascades, and we halted on the open point. In the mean time, 
the lighter canoes, paddled altogether by Indians, had passed ahead, and 
were out of sight. With them was the lodge, Yv'hich was the only shelter 
we had, with most of the bedding and provisions. We sliouted, and fired 
guns; but all to no purpose, as it was impossible for them to hear above 
the roar of the river; and we remained all night without shelter, the rain 
pouring down all the time. The old voyageurs did not appear to mind it 
much, but covered themselves up as well as they could, and lay down on 
the sand beach, where they remained quiet until morning. The rest of 
us spent a rather miserable night; and, to add to our discomfort, the inces- 
sant rain extinguished our fires; and we were glad wiien at last daylight 
appeared, and we again embarked. 

Crossing to the right bank, we cordelled the boat along tlie shore, there 
being no longer any use for the paddles, and put into a little bay below the 
upper rapids. Here we found the lodge pitched, and about twenty Indians 
sitting around a blazing fire within, making a luxurious breakfast with 
salmon, bread, butler, sugar, coffee. ai}d other provisions. In the forest, on 
the edge of the high bluff overlooking the river, is an Indian grave yard, 
consisting of a collection of tombs, in each of which were the scattered 
bones of many skeletons. The tombs were made of boards, which were 
ornamented with many figures of men and animals of the natural size — 
from their appearance, constituting the armorial device by which, among 
Indians, the chiefs are usually known. 

The masses of rock displayed along the shores of the ravine in the 
neighborhood of the cascades are clearly volcanic products. Between this 
cove, which I called Grave-yard bay, and another spot of smooth water 
above, on the right, called Liiders bay, sheltered by a jutting point of huge 
rocky masses at the foot of the cascades, the shore along the intervening 
rapids is lined with precipices of distinct strata of red and variously colored 
lavas, in inclined positions. 

The masses of rock forming the point at Liiders bay consist of a porous 
trap, or basalt — a volcanic product of a modern period. The rocks belong 
to agglomerated masses, which form the immediate ground of the cascades, 
and have been already mentioned as constituting a bed of cemented con- 
glomerate rocks appearing at various places along the river. Here they 
are scattered along the shores, and through the bed of the river, wearing 
the character of convulsion, which forms the impressive and prominent 
feature of the river at this place. 

Wherever we came in contact with the rocks of these mountains, we 

found them volcanic, which is probably the character of the range ; and 

at this time, two of the great snowy cones, Mount Regnier and St. Helens, 

were in action. On the 23d of the preceding November, St. Helens had 

12 



17S CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

scattered its ashes, like a light fall of snow, over the Dalles of the Colum- 
bia, 50 miles distant. A specimen of these ashes was given to me by Mr- 
Brewer, one of the clergymen at the Dalles. 

The lofty range of the Cascade mountains forms a distinct boundary be- 
tween the opposite climates of the regions along its western and eastern 
bases. On the west, they present a barrier to the clouds of fog and rain 
which roll up from tlie Pacific ocean and beat against tiieir rugged sides, 
forming the rainy season of the winter in the country along the coast. 
Into the brighter skies of the region along their eastern base, this rainy 
winter never penetrates ; and at the Dalles of the Columbia the rainy 
season is unknown, the brief winter being limited to a period of about two 
months, during which the earth is covered with the slight snows of a 
climate remarkably mild for so high a latitude. The Cascade range has 
an average distance of about 130 miles from the sea coast. It extends far 
both north and south of the Cohimbia, and is indicated to the distant ob- 
server, both in course and position, by the lofty volcanic peaks which rise 
out of it, and which are visible to an immense distance. 

During several days of constant rain, it kept our whole force laboriously 
employed in getting our barge and canoes to the upper end of the cascades. 
The portage ground was occupied by emigrant families; their thin and in- 
sufficient clothing, bare-headed and bare-footed children, attesting the 
length of their journey, and showing that they had, in many instances, set 
out without a due preparation of what was indispensable. 

A gentleman named Liiders, a botanist from the city of Hamburg, ar- 
rived at the bay I have called by his name while we were occupied in bring- 
ing up the boats. I was delighted to meet at such a place a man of kindred 
pursuits; but we had only the pleasure of a brief conversation, as his canoe, 
under the guidance of two Indians, was about to run the rapids; and I 
could not enjoy the satisfaction of regaling him with a breakfast, which, 
after his recent journey, would have been an extraordinary luxury. All 
of his few instruments and baggage were in the canoe, and he hurried 
around by land to meet it at the Grave-yard bay; but he was scarcely out 
of sight, when, by the carelessness of the Indians, the boat was drawn inta 
the midst of the rapids, and glanced down the river, bottom up, with the 
loss of every thing it contained. In the natural concern I felt for his mis- 
fortune, I gave to the little cove the name of Liiders bay. 

November 15. — We continued to-day our work at the portage. 

About noon, the two barges of the express from Montreal arrived at the 
upper portage landing, which, for large boats, is on the right bank of the 
river. They were a fine-looking crew, and among them I remarked a fresh^ 
looking woman and her daughter, emigrants from Canada, It was satis- 
factory to see the order and speed with which these experienced watermen 
effected the portage, and passed their boats over the cascades. They had 
arrived at noon, and in the evening they expected to reach Vancouver. 
These batteaus carry the express of the Hudson Bay Company to the high- 
est navigable point of the north fork of the Columbia, whence it is carried 
by an overland party to lake Winipec, where it is divided — part going to 
Montreal, and part to Hudson bay. Thus a regular communication is 
kept up between three very remote points. 

The Canadian emigrant was much chagrined at the change of climate, 
and informed me that, only a few miles above, they had left a country of 
bright blue sky and a shining sun. The next morning the upper parts of 



1843.1 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. I79 

the mountains which directly overlook the cascades were white with the 
freshly fallen snow, while it continued to rain steadily below. 

Late in the afternoon we finished the portage, and, embarking again, 
moved a little distance up the right bank, in order to clear the smaller rap- 
ids of the cascades, and have a smooth river for the next morning. 
Though we made but a few miles, the weather improved immediately ; 
and though the rainy country and the cloudy mountains were close behind, 
before us was the bright sky; so distinctly is climate here marked by a 
mountain boundary. 

November 17. — We had to-day an opportunity to complete the sketch 
of that portion of the river down which we had come by night. 

Many places occur along the river, where the stumps, or rather por- 
tions of the trunks of pine trees, are standing along the short, and in 
the water, where they may be seen at a considerable depth below the 
surface, in the beautifully clear water. These collections of dead trees 
are called on the Columbia the submerged forest , and are supposed to have 
been created by the etfects of some convulsion which formed the cascades, 
and which, by damming up the river, placed these trees under water and 
destroyed them. But I venture to presume that the cascades are older 
than the trees; and as these submerged forests occur at five or six placesalong 
the river, I had an opportunity to satisfy myself that they have been'formed 
by immense land slides from the mountains, which here closely shut in the 
river, and which brought down with them into the river the pines of the 
mountain. At one place, on the right bank, I remarked a place where a 
portion of one of these slides seemed to have planted itself, with all the 
evergreen foliage, and the vegetation of the neighboring hill, directly 
amidst the falling and yellow leaves of tlie river trees. It occurred to me 
that this would have been a beautiful illustration to the eye of a botanist. 

Following the course of a slide, which was very plainly marked along 
the mountain, 1 found that in the interior parts the trees were in their usual 
erect position ; but at the extremity of the slide they were rocked about, 
and thrown hito a confusion of inclinations. 

About 4 o'clock in the afternoon we passed a sandy bar in the river, 
whence we had an unexpected view of Mount Hood, hearing directly 
south by compass. 

During the day we used oar and sail, and at night had again a delight- 
ful camping ground, and a dry place to sleep upon. 

November IS. — The day again was pleasant and bright. At 10 o'clock 
we passed a rock island, on the right shore of the river, which the Indians 
use as a burial ground ; and, halting for a short time, about an hour after- 
wards, at the village of our Indian friends, early in the afternoon we ar- 
rived again at the Dalles. 

Carson iiad removed the camp up the river a little nearer to the hills, 
where the animals had better grass. We found every thing in good order, 
and arrived just in time to partake of an excellent roast of California beef. 
My friend Mr. Gilpin had arrived in advance of the party. His object in 
visiting this country had been to obtain correct information of the Walah- 
mette settlements ; and he had reached this point in his journey, highly 
pleased with the country over which he had travelled, and with invigorat- 
ed health. On the following day he continued his journey, in our return 
mg boats, to Vancouver. 



ISO CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

The camp was now occupied in making the necessary preparations for 
our homeward journey, which, though homeward, contemplated a new 
route, and a great circuit to the south and southeast, and the exploration 
of the Great Basin between the Rocky mountains and the Sierra Nevada. 
Three principal objects were indicated, by report or by maps, as being on 
this route ; the character or existence of which I wished to ascertain, and 
which I assumed as landmarks, or leading points, on tlie projected line of 
return. The first of these points was the Tlamath lake, on the table 
land between the head of Fall river, which comes to the Columbia, and 
the Sacramento, which goes to the bay of San Francisco ; and from which 
lake a river of the same name makes its way westwardly direct to the 
ocean. This lake and river are often called Klamet, but I have chosen to 
write its name according to the Indian pronunciation. The position of 
this lake, on the line of inland communication between Oregon and Cali- 
fornia ; its proximity to the demarcation boundary of latitude 42°; its im- 
puted double character of lake, or meadow, according to the season of 
the year ; and the hostile and warlike character attributed to the Indians 
about it — all made it a desirable object to visit and examine. From this 
lake our course Avas intended to be about southeast, to a reported lake 
called Mary's, at some days' journey in the Great Basin; and thence, still 
on southeast, to the reputed Buenaventura river, which has had a place 
in so many maps, and countenanced the belief of the existence of a great 
river flowing from the Rocky mountains to the bay of San Francisco. 
From the Buenaventura the next point was intended to be in that section 
of the Rocky mountains which includes the heads of Arkansas river, and 
of the opposite waters of the Californian gulf; and thence down the Ar- 
kansas to Bent's fort, and home. This was our projected line of return — 
a great part of it absolutely new to geographical, botanical, and geological 
science — and the subject of reports in relation to lakes, rivers, deserts, and 
savages hardly above the condition of mere wild animals, which inflamed 
desire to know what this terra incognita really contained. It was a se- 
rious enterprise, at the commencement of winter, to undertake the traverse 
of such a region, and with a party consisting only of twenty-fii'e persons, 
and they of many nations — American, French, German, Canadian, Indian, 
and colored— and most of them young, several being under twenty -one 
years of age. All knew that a strange country was to be explored, and 
dangers and hardships to be encountered ; but no one blenched at the pros- 
pect. On the contrary, courage and confidence animated the whole party. 
Cheerfulness, readiness, subordination, prompt obedience, characterized all ; 
nor did any extremity of peril and privation, to which we were afterwards 
exposed, ever belie, or derogate from, the fine spirit of this brave and gen- 
erous commencement. The course of the narrative will show at what 
point, and for what reasons, we were prevented from the complete execu- 
tion of this plan, after having made considerable progress upon it, and how 
we were forced by desert plains and mountain ranges, and deep snows, far 
to the south and near to the Pacific ocean, and along the western base of 
the Sierra Nevada; where, indeed, a new and ample field of exploration 
opened itself before us. For the present, we must follow the narrative, 
which will first lead us south along the valley of Fall river, and the east- 
ern base of the Cascade range, to the Tlamath lake, from which, or its 
margin, three rivers go in three directions — one west, to the ocean ; another 
north, to the Columbia; the third south, to California. 



1S43.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. IS I 

For the support of the party, I had provided at Vancouver a supply of 
provisions for not less than three months, consisting principally of flour, 
peas, and tallow — the latter being used in cooking; and, in addition to this, 
I had purchased at the mission some California cattle, which were to be 
driven on the hoof. We had 104 mules and horses — part of the latter pro- 
cured from the Indians about the mission ; and for the sustenance of which, 
our reliance was upon the grass which we should find, and the soft porous 
wood, which was to be its substitute when there was none. 

Mr. Fitzpatrick, with Mr. Talbot and the remainder of our party, arriv- 
ed on the 21st; and the camp was now closely engaged in the labor of 
preparation. Mr. Perkins succeeded in obtaining as a guide to the Tlamath 
lake two Indians — one of whom had been there, and bore the marks of 
several wounds he had received from some of the Indians in the neighbor- 
hood : and the other went along for company. In order to enable lis to 
obtain horses, he despatched messengers to the various Indian villages in 
the neighborhood, informing them that we were desirous to purchase, and 
appointing a day for them to bring them in. 

We made, in the mean time, several excursions in the vicinity. Mr. 
Perkins walked with Mr. Preuss aid myself to the heights, about nine miles 
distant, on the opposite side of the river, whence, in fine weather, an exten- 
sive view may be had over the mountains^ nickiding seven great peaks of the 
Cascade range ; but clouds, on this occasion, destroyed the anticipated pleas- 
ure, and we obtained bearings only to three that were visible : Mount Reg- 
nier, St. Helens, and Mount Hood. On the heights, about one mile south 
of the mission, a very fine view may be had of ?.Iount Hood and St. Helens. 
In order to determine their positions with as much accuracy as possible,, 
the angular distances of the peaks were measured with the sextant, at dif- 
ferent fixed points from v/hich they could be seen. 

The Indians brought in their horses at the appointed time, and we suc- 
ceeded in obtaining a number in exchange for goods ; but they were rela- 
tively much higher here, where goods are plenty and at moderate prices^ 
than we had found them in the more eastern part of our voyage. Several 
of the Indians inquired very anxiously to know if we had any r/o//«?5; and 
the horses we procured were much fewer in number than I had desired, 
and of thin, inferior quality; the oldest and poorest being those that were 
sold to us. These horses, as ever in our journey you will have occasion ta 
remark, are valuable for hardihood and great endurance. 

November 24. — At this place one of the men was discharged ; and at the 
request of Mr. Perkins, a Chinook Indian, a lad of nineteen, who was ex- 
tremely desirous to "see the whites," and make some acquaintance with 
our institutions, was received into the party, under my special charge, with 
the understanding that I would again return him to his friends. He had 
lived for some time in the household of Mr. Perkins, and spoke a few words 
of the English language. 

November 25. — We were all up early, in the excitement of turning to- 
wards home. The stars were brilliant, and the morning cold — the ther- 
mometer at daylight 26°. 

Our preparations had been finally completed, and to-day we commenced 
our journey. The little wagon which had hitherto carried the instruments 
I judged it necessary to abandon ; and it was accordingly presented to the 
mission. In all our long travelling, it had never been overturned or injured 
by any accident of the road ; and the only things broken were the glass 



182 CAPT. FREMONT'S NA NATIVE. [1843. 

lamps, and one of the front panels, which had been kicked out by an un- 
ruly Indian horse. Tlie howitzer was the only wheeled carriage now re- 
maining. We started about noon, when the weather had become dis- 
agreeably cold, with flurries of snow. Our friend Mr. Perkins, whose 
kindkess had been active and efficient during our stay, accompanied us sev- 
eral miles on our road; when he bade us farewell, and consigned us to the 
eare of our guides. Ascending to the uplands beyond the southern fork of 
the Tinanens creek, we found the snow lying on the ground in frequent 
patches, although the pasture appeared good, and the new short grass was 
fresh and green. We travelled over high, hilly land, and encamped on a 
little branch of Tinanens creek, where there were good grass and timber. 
The southern bank was covered with snow, which was scattered over the 
bottom ; and the little creek, its borders lined with ice, had a chilly and 
wintry look. A number of Indians had accompanied us so far on our 
road, and remained with us during the night. Two bad-looking fellows, 
who were detected in stealing, were tied and laid before the fire, and guard 
mounted over them during the night. The night was cold, and partially 
clear. 

November 26. — The morning was cloudy and misty, and but a few stars 
j^isible. During the night water froze in the tents, and at sunrise the ther- 
mometer was at 20^. Left camp at 10 o'clock, the road leading along tribu- 
taries of the Tinanens, and being, so far, very good. We turned to the 
right at the fork of the trail, ascending by a steep ascent along a spur to the 
dividing grounds between this stream and the waters of Fall river. The 
creeks we had passed were timbered principally with oak and other de- 
ciduous trees. Snow lies every where here on the ground, and we had a 
slight fall during the morning ; but towards noon the gray sky yielded to a 
bright sun. This morning we had a grand view of St. Helens and Reg- 
nier : the latter appeared of a conical form, and very lofty, leading the eye 
far up into the sky. The line of the timbered country is very distinctly 
marked here, the bare hills making with it a remarkable contrast. The 
summit of the ridge commanded a fine view of the Taih prairie, and the 
stream lunning through it, which is a tributary to the Fall river, the chasm 
of which is visible to the right. A steep descent of a mountain hill brought 
us down into the valley, and we encamped on the stream after dark, guided 
by the light of fires, which some naked Indians belonging to a village on 
the opposite side were kindling for us on the bank. This is a large branch 
of the Fall river. There was a broad band of thick ice some fifteen feet 
wide on either bank, and the river current is swift and bold. The night 
was cold and clear, and we made our astronomical observation this even- 
ing with the thermometer at 20°. 

In anticipation of coming hardship, and to spare our horses, there was 
much walking done to-day ; and Mr. Fitzpatrick and myself made the day's 
journey on foot. Somewhere near the mouth of this stream are the falls 
from which the river takes its name. 

Novviber 27. — A fine view of Mount Hood this morning ; a rose-colored 
mass of snow, bearing S. 85° W. by compass. The sky is clear, and the 
air cold ; the thermometer 2°.5 below zero ; the trees and bushes glittering 
white, and the rapid stream filled with floating ice. 

Sfiletsi and the White Crane, two Indian chiefs who had accompanied 
us thus far, took their leave, and we resumed our journey at 10 o'clock. 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. I33 

We ascended by a steep hill from the river bottom, which is sandy, to a 
volcanic plain, around which lofty hills sweep in a regular form. It is cut 
up by gullies of basaltic rock, escarpments of which appear every where iu 
the hills. This plain is called the Taih prairie, and is sprinkled with some 
scattered pines. The country is now far more interesting to a traveller 
than the route along the Snake and Columbia rivers. To our right we 
had always the mountains, from the midst of whose dark pine forests the 
isolated snowy peaks were looking out like giants. They served us for 
grand beacons to show the rate at which we advanced in our journey. Mount 
Hood was already becoming an old acquaintance, and, when we ascended 
the prairie, we obtained a hearing to Mount Jetferson, S. 23° W. The In- 
dian superstition has peopled these lofty peaks with evil spirits, and they 
have never yet known the tread of a human foot. Sternly drawn against 
the sky, they look so high and steep, so snowy and rocky, that it would 
appear almost impossible to climb them ; but still a trial would have its 
attractions for the adventurous traveller. A small trail takes off through 
the prairie, towards a low point in the range, and perhaps there is here a 
pass into the Walahmette valley. Crossing the plain, we descended by a 
rocky hill into the bed of a tributary of Fall river, and made an early en- 
campment. The water was in holes, and frozen over, and we were obliged 
to cut through the ice for the animals to drink. An ox, which was rather 
troublesome to drive, was killed here for food. 

The evening was fine, the sky being very clear, and I obtained an im- 
mersion of the third satellite, with a good observation of an emersion of 
the first; the latter of which gives for the longitude, 121° 02' 43"; the 
latitude, by observation, being 45° 06' 45". The night was cold — the ther- 
mometer during the observations standing at 9°. 

November 2S. — The sky was clear in the morning, but suddenly clouded 
over, and at sunrise began to snow, with the thermometer at 1S°. 

We traversed a broken high country, partly timbered with pine, and 
about noon crossed a mountainous ridge, in which, from the rock occa- 
sionally displayed, the formation consists of compact lava. Frequent tracks 
of elk were visible in the snow. On our right, in the afternoon, a high 
plain, partially covered with pine, extended about ten miles, to the foot of 
the Cascade mountains. 

At evening we encamped in a basin narrowly surrounded by rocky hills, 
after a day's journey of 21 miles. The surrounding rocks are either vol- 
canic products, or highly altered by volcanic action, consisting of quartz 
and reddish-colored siliceous masses. 

November 29. — We emerged from the basin, by a narrow pass, upon a 
considerable branch of Fall river, running to the eastward through a.. nar- 
row valley. The trail, descending this stream, brought us to a locality 6i 
hot springs, which were on either bank. Those on the left, which were 
formed into deep handsome basins, would have been delightful baths, if 
the outer air had not been so keen, the thermometer in these being at 89°. 
There were others, on the opposite side, at the foot of an escarpment, in 
which the temperature of the water was 134°. These waters deposited 
around the spring a brecciated mass of quartz and feldspar, much of it of a 
reddish color. 

We crossed the stream here, and ascended again to a high plain, from 
an elevated point of which we obtained a view of six of the great peaks — 



1S4 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

Mount Jefferson, followed to the southward by two others of the same class; 
and succeeding, at a still greater distance to the southward, were three other 
lower peaks, clustering together in a branch ridge. These, like the great 
peaks, were snowy masses, secondary only to them ; and, from the best ex- 
amination our time permitted, we are inclined to believe that the range to-, 
which they belong is a branch from the great chain which here bears to 
the westward. The trail during the remainder of the day followed near 
to the large stream on the left, which was continuously walled in between, 
high rocky banks. We halted for the night on a little by-stream. 

November 30. — Our journey to-day was short. Passing over a high 
plain, on which were scattered cedars, with frequent beds of volcanic rock 
in fragments interspersed among the grassy grounds, we arrived suddenly 
on the verge of the steep and rocky descent to the valley of the stream we 
had been following, and which here ran directly across our path, emerging 
from the mountains on the right. You will remark that the country is 
abundantly watered with large streams, which pour down from the neigh- 
boring range. 

These streams are characterized by the narrow and chasm-like valleys 
in which they run, generally sunk a thousand feet below the plain. At 
the verge of this plain, they frequently commence in vertical precipices of 
basaltic rock, and which leave only casual places at which they can be 
entered by horses. The road across the country, which would otherwise be 
very good, is rendered impracticable for wagons by these streams. There 
is another trail among the mountains, usually followed in the summer, 
which the snows now compelled us to avoid; and I have reason to believe 
that this, passing nearer the heads of these streams, would afford a much 
better road. 

At such places, the gun carriage was unlimbered,and separately descend- 
ed by hand. Continuing a few miles up the left bank of the river, we en- 
camped early in an open bottom among the pines, a short distance below a 
lodge of Indians, Here, along the river the bluffs present escarpments 
seven or eight hundred feet in height, containing strata of a very fine porce- 
lain clay, overlaid, at the height of about five hundred feet, by a massive 
stratum of compact basalt one hundred feet in thickness, which again is suc- 
ceeded above by other strata of volcanic rocks. The clay strata are variously 
colored, some of them very nearly as white as chalk, and very fine grained. 
Specimens brought from these have been subjected to microscopical exami-^ 
nation by Professor Bailey, of Vv^'est Point, and are considered by him to- 
constitute one of the most remarkable deposites of fluviatile infusoria on 
record. While they abound in genera and species which are common in 
fresh water, but which rarely thrive where the water is even brackish, not 
one decidedly marine form is to be found among them ; and their fresh- 
water origin is therefore beyond a doubt. It is equally certain that they, 
lived and died at the situation where they were found, as they could scarce- ' 
ly have been transported by running waters without an admixture of sandy , 
particles ; from which, however, they are remarkably free. Fossil infusoria 
of a fresh-water origin had been previously detected by Mr. Bailey in speci- 
mens brought by Mr. James D. Dana from the tertiary formation of Ore- 
gon. Most of the species in those specimens differed so much from those 
now living and known, that he was led to infer that they might belong to 
extinct species, and considered them also as affording proof of an alterna- 



1843.] CAPT. FKEMO-XT'S XARRATIVE. ISS 

tion, in the formation from which they were obtained, of fresh and salt 
water deposites, which, common enough in Europe, had not hitherto been 
noticed in the United States. Comhig evidently from a locality entirely 
different, our specimens show very few species in common with those 
brought by Mr. Dana, but bear a much closer resemblance to those inhab- 
iting the northeastern States. It is possible that they are from a more re- 
cent deposite ; but the presence of a few remarkable forms which are com- 
mon to the two localities renders it more probable that there is no great 
difference in their age. 

I obtained here a good observation of an emersion of the second satellite ; 
but clouds, which rapidly overspread the sky, prevented the usual number 
of observations. Those which we succeeded in obtaining are, however, 
good ; and give for the latitude of the place 44° 35' 23", and for the longi- 
tude from the satellite 121° 10' 25". 

December 1. — A short distance above our encampment, we crossed this 
river, which was thickly lined along its banks with ice. In common with 
all these mountain streams, the water was very clear, and the current swift. 
It was not every where fordable, and the water was three or four feet deep 
at our crossing, and perhaps a hundred feet wide. As was frequently the 
case at such places, one of the mules got his pack, consisting of sugar, 
thoroughly wet, and turned uito molasses. One of the guides informed 
me that this was a " salmon water," and pointed out several ingeniously 
contrived places to catch the fish ; among the pines in the bottom I saw aii 
immense one, about twelve feet in diameter. A sleep ascent from the op- 
posite bank d/jlayed us again; and as, by the information of our guides, 
grass would soon become very scarce, we encamped on the height of land, 
in a marshy place among the pines, where there was an abundance of 
grass. We found here a single Nez Perce family, who had a very hand- 
some horse in their drove, which we endeavored to obtain in exchange for 
a good cow ; but the man '< had two hearts," or, rather, he had one and his 
Avife had another : she wanted the cow, but he loved the horse too much to 
part Avith it. These people attach great vaUie to cattle, with which they are 
endeavoring to supply themselves. 

December 2. — In the first rays of the sun, the mountain peaks this morn- 
ing presented a beautiful appearance, the snow being entirely covered with 
a hue of rosy gold. We travelled to-day over a very stony, elevated plain, 
about which were scattered cedar atid pine, and encamped on another large 
branch of Fall river. We were gradually ascending to a more elevated 
region, which would have been indicated by the rapidly increasing quanti- 
ties of snow and ice, had we not known it by other means. A mule which 
was packed with our cooking utensils wandered off among the pines unper- 
ceived, and several men were sent back to search for it. 

December 3. — Leaving Mr. Fitzpatrick with the party, I went ahead 
with the howitzer and a few men, in order to gain time, as our progress 
with the gun was necessarily slower. The country continued the same — 
very stony, with cedar and pine ; and we rode on until dark, when we en- 
camped on a hill side covered with snow, which we used to-night for 
water, as we were unable to reach any stream. 

December 4. — Our animals had taken the back track, although a great 
number were hobbled; and we were consequently delayed until noon. 
Shortly after we had left this encampment, the moutitain trail from the 



1-S6 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1S43. 

Dalles joined that on which we were travelhng. After passing for several 
miles over an artemisia plain, the trail entered a beautiful pine forest, 
through which we travelled for several hours ; and about 4 o'clock 
descended into the valley of another large branch, on the bottom of which 
were spaces of open pines, with occasional meadows of good grass, in one 
of which we encamped. The stream is very swift and deep, and about 40 
feet wide, and nearly half frozen over. Among the timber here, are larches 
140 feet high, and over 3 feet in diameter. We had to-night the rare sight 
of a lunar rainbow. 

December 5. — To-day the country was all pine forest, and beautiful 
weather made our journey delightful. It was too warm at noon for winter 
clothes ; and the snow, which lay every where in patches through the forest, 
was melting rapidly. After a few hours' ride, we came upon a fine stream 
in the midst of the forest, which proved to be the principal branch of Fall 
river. It was occasionally 200 feet wide — sometimes narrowed to 50 feet ; 
the waters very clear, and frequently deep. We ascended along the river, 
which sometimes presented sheets of foaming cascades ; its banks occa- 
sionally blackened with masses of scoriated rock, and found a good en- 
campment on the verge of an open bottom, which had been an old camp- 
ing ground of the Cayuse Indians. A great number of deer horns were 
lying about, indicating game in the neighborhood. The timber was uni- 
formly large ; some of the pines measuring 22 feet in circumference at the 
ground, and 12 to 13 feet at six feet above. 

In all our journeying, we had never travelled through a country where 
the rivers were so abounding in falls, and the name of this stream is singu- 
larly characteristic. At every place where we come in the neighborhood 
of the river, is heard the roaring of falls. The rock along the banks of the 
stream, and the ledge over which it falls, is a scoriated basalt, with a bright 
metallic fracture. The stream goes over in one clear pitch, succeeded by 
a foaming cataract of several hundred yards. In the little bottom above 
the falls, a small stream discharges into an entonnoir, and disappears below. 

We had made an early encampment, and in the course of the evening 
Mr. Fitzpatrick joined us here with the lost mule. Dur lodge poles were 
nearly worn out, and we found here a handsome set, leaning against one of 
the trees, very white, and cleanly scraped. Had the owners been here, we 
would have purchased them ; but as they were not, we merely left the old 
ones in their place, with a small quantity of tobacco. 

December 6. — The morning was frosty and clear. We continued up 
the stream on undulating forest ground, over which there was scattered 
much fallen timber. We met here a village of Nez Perce Indians, who 
appeared to be coming down from the mountains, and had with them fine 
bands of horses. With them were a few Snake Indians of the root-digging 
species. From the forest we emerged into an open valley ten or twelve 
miles wide, through which the stream was flowing tranquilly, upward of 
two hundred feet broad, with occasional islands, and bordered with fine 
broad bottoms. Crossing the river, which here issues from a great moun- 
tain ridge on the right, we continued up the southern and smaller branch, 
over a level country, consisting of fine meadow land, alternating with pine 
forests, and encamped on it early in the evening. A warm sunshine made 
the day pleasant. 

December 7. — To-day we had good travelling ground; the trail leading 
sometimes over rather sandy soils in the pine forest, and sometimes over 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 187 

meadow land along the stream. The great beauty of the country in summer 
constantly suggested itself to our imaginations; and even now we found it 
beautiful, as we rode along these meadows, from half a mile to two miles 
wide. The rich soil and excellent water, surrounded by noble forests, 
make a picture that would delight the eye of a farmer. 

I observed to-night an occultation of ^ Geminoritm ; which, although at 
the bright limb of the moon, appears to give a very good result, that has 
been adopted for the longitude. The occultation, observations of satellites, 
and our position deduced from daily surveys with the compass, agree re- 
markably well together, and mutually support and strengthen each other. 
The latitude of the camp is 43° 30' 36"; and longitude, deduced from the 
occultation, 121° 33' 50". 

December S. — To-day we crossed the last branch of the Fall river, issu- 
ing, like all the others we had crossed, in a southwesterly direction from the 
mountains. Our direction was a Utile east of south, the trail leading con- 
stantly through pine forests. The soil was generally bare, consisting, in 
greater part, of a yellowish white pumice stone, producing varieties of 
magnificent pines, but not a blade of grass ; and to-night our horses were 
obliged to do without food, and use snow for water. These pines are re- 
markable for the red color of the bolls ; and among them occurs a species, 
of which the Indians had informed me when leaving the Dalles. The un- 
usual size of the cone (16 or IS inches long) had attracted their attention; 
and they pointed it out to me among the curiosities of the country. They 
are more remarkable for their large diameter than their height, which 
usually averages only about 120 feet. The leaflets are short — only two or 
three inches long, and five in a sheath ; the bark of a red color. 

December 9. — The trail leads always through splendid pine forests. 
Crossing dividing grounds by a very fine road, we descended very gently 
towards the south. The weather was pleasant, and we halted late. The 
soil was very much like that of yesterday ; and on the surface of a hill, 
near our encampment, were displayed beds of pumice stone ; but the soil 
produced no grass, and again the animals fared badly. 

December 10. — The country began to improve ; and about 11 o'clock we 
reached a spring of cold water on the edge of a savannah, or grassy mea- 
dow, which our guides informed us was an arm of the Tlamath lake ; and 
a few miles further we entered upon an extensive meadow, or lake of grass, 
surrounded by timbered mountains. This was the Tlamath lake. It was 
a picturesque and beautiful spot, and rendered more attractive to us by the 
abundant and excellent grass, which our animals, after travelling through 
pine forests, so much needed; but the broad sheet of water which consti- 
tutes a lake was not to be seen. Overlooking it, immediately west, were 
several snowy knobs, belonging to what we have considered a branch of 
the Cascade range. A low point covered with pines made out into the 
lake, which afforded us a good place for an encampment, and for the secu- 
rity of our horses, which were guarded in view on the open meadow. The 
character of courage and hostility attributed to the Indians of this quarter 
induced more than usual precaution ; and, seeing smokes rising from the 
middle of the lake (or savannah) and along the opposite shores, I directed 
the howitzer to be fired. It was the first time our guides had seen it dis- 
charged ; and the bursting of the shell at a distance, which was something 
like the second fire of the gun, amazed and bewildered them with delight. 



188 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

It inspired them with triumphant feeUngs ; but on the camps at a distance 
the effect was different, for the smokes in the lake and on the shores im- 
mediately disappeared. 

The point on which we were encamped forms, with the opposite eastern 
shore, a narrow neck, connecting the body of the lake with a deep cove or 
bay which receives the principal affluent stream, and over the greater part 
of which the water (or rather ice) was at this time dispersed in shallow 
pools. Among the grass, and scattered over the prairie lake, appeared to 
be similar marshes. It is simply a shallow basin, Avhich, for a short period 
at the time of melting snows, is covered with water from the neighboring 
mountains ; but this probably soon runs off, and leaves for the remainder 
of the year a green savannah, through the midst of which the river Tla- 
math, which flows to the ocean, winds its way to the outlet on the south- 
western side. 

December 11. — No Indians made their appearance, and I determined to 
pay them a visit. Accordingly, the people were gathered together, and we 
rode out towards the village in the middle of the lake, which one of our 
guides had previously visited. It could not be directly approached, as a 
large part of the lake appeared a marsh ; and there were sheets of ice among 
the grass, on which our horses could not keep their footing. We therefore 
followed the guide for a considerable distance along the forest ; and then 
turned off towards the village, which we soon began to see was a few large 
huts, on the tops of which were collected the Indians. When we had ar- 
rived within half a mile of the village, two persons were seen advancing 
to meet us; and, to please the fancy of our guides, we ranged ourselves 
into a long line, riding abreast, while they galloped ahead to meet the 
strangers. 

We were surprised, on riding up, to find one of them a woman, having 
never before known a squaw to take any part in the business of war. 
They were the village chief and his wife, who, in excitement and alarm at 
the unusual event and appearance, had come out to meet their fate together. 
The chief was a very prepossessing Indian, with very handsome features, 
and a singularly soft and agreeable voice — so remarkable as to attract gen- 
eral notice. 

The huts were grouped together on the bank of the river, which, from 
being spread out in a shallow marsh at the upper end of the lake, was col- 
lected here into a single stream. They were large round huts, perhaps 20 
feet in diameter, with rounded tops, on which was the door by which they 
descended into the interior. Within, they were supported by posts and 
beams. 

Almost like plants, these people seem to have adapted themselves to the 
soil, and to be growing on what the immediate locality afforded. Their 
only subsistence at this time appeared to be a small fish, great quantities of 
Avhich, that had been smoked and dried, were suspended on strings about 
the lodge. Heaps of straw were lying around; and their residence in the 
midst of grass and rushes had taught them a peculiar skill in converting 
this material to useful purposes. Their shoes were made of straw or grass, 
which seemed well adapted for a snowy country ; and the women wore on 
their head a closely woven basket, which made a very good cap. Among 
other things, were parti-colored mats about four feet square, which we pur-, 
chased to lay on the snow under our blankets, and to use for table cloths. 

Numbers of singular-looking dogs, resembling wolves, were sitting on 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 189 

the tops of the huts ; and of these we purchased a young one, which, after 
its birthplace, was named Tlamath. The language spoken by these In- 
dians is different from that of the Shoshonee and Cohmibia river tribes ; 
and otherwise than by signs they cannot understand each other. I'hey 
made us comprehend that they were at war with the people who lived to 
the soutiiward and to the eastward ; but I could obtain from them no cer- 
tain information. The river on which they live enters the Cascade moun- 
tains on the western side of the lake, and breaks through them by a pas- 
sage iujpracticable for travellers ; but over the mountains, to the northward, 
are passes which present no other obstacle than in the almost impenetrable 
forests. Unlike any Indians we had previously seen, these wore shells in 
their noses. We returned to our camp, after remaining here an hour or 
two, accompanied bj'- a number of Indians. 

In order to recruit a little the strength of our animals, and obtain some 
acquaintance with the locality, we remained here for the remainder of the 
day. By observation, the latitude of the camp was 42^ 56' 51"; and the 
diameter of the lake, or meadow, as has been intimated, about 20 miles. 
It is a picturesque and beautiful spot; and, under the hand of cultivation, 
might become a little paradise. Game is found in the forest; timbered and 
snowy mountains skirt it, and fertility characterizes it. Situated near the 
heads of three rivers, and on the line of inland communication with Cali- 
fornia, and near to Indians noted for treachery, it will naturally, in the pro- 
gress of the settlement of Oregon, become a point for military occupation 
and settlement. 

From Tlamath lake, the further continuation of our voyage assumed a 
character of discovery and exploration, which, from the Indians here, we 
could obtain no information to direct, and where the imaginary maps of the 
country, instead of assisting, exposed us to suffering and defeat. In our 
journey across the desert, Mary's lake, and the famous Buenaventura river, 
were two points on which I relied to recruit the animals, and repose the 
party. Forming, agreeably to the best maps in my possession, a connected 
water line from the Rocky mountains to the Pacific ocean, I felt no other 
anxiety than to pass safely across the intervening desert to the banks of the 
Buenaventura, where, in the softer climate of a more southern latitude, 
our horses might find grass to sustain them, and ourselves be sheltered 
from the rigors of winter and from the inhospitable desert. The guides 
who had conducted us thus far on our journey were about to return ; and 
I endeavored in vain to obtain others to lead us, even for a few days, in 
the direction (east) which we wished to go. The chief to whom I applied 
alleged the want of horses, and the snow on the mountains across which 
our course would carry us, and the sickness of his family, as reasons for 
refusing to go with us. 

December 12. — This morning the camp was thronged with Tlamath 
Indians from the southeastern shore of the lake; but, knowing the treach- 
erous disposition which is a remarkable characteristic of the Indians south 
of the Columbia, the camp was kept constantly on its guard. I was not 
unmindful of the disasters which Smith and other travellers had met with 
in this country, and therefore was equally vigilant in guarding against 
treachery and violence. 

According to the best information I had been able to obtain from the In- 
dians, in a few days' travelling we should reach another large water, prob- 
ably a lake, which they indicated exactly in the course we were about to 



190 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

pursue. We struck our tents at 10 o'clock, and crossed the lake in a nearly 
east direction, where it has the least extension — the breadth of the arm 
beujg here only about a mile and a half. There were ponds of ice, with 
but little grass, for the greater part of the way ; and it was difficult to get 
the pack animals across, which fell frequently, and could not get up with 
their loads, unass-isted. The morning was very unpleasant, snow falUng at 
intervals in large flakes, and the sky dark. In about two hours we suc- 
ceeded in getting the animals over ; and, after travelling another hour along 
the eastern shore of the lake, we turned up into a cove where there was a 
sheltered place among the timber, with good grass, and encamped. The 
Indians, who had accompanied us so far, returned to their village on the 
southeastern shore. Among the pines here, I noticed some five or six 
feet in diameter. 

December 13. — The night has been cold ; the peaks around the lake 
gleam out brightly hi the morning sun, and the thermometer is at zero. 
We continued up the hollow formed by a small affluent to the lake, and 
immediately entered an open pine forest on the mountain. The way here 
was sometimes obstructed by fallen trees, and the snow was four to twelve 
inches deep. The mules at the gun pulled heavily, and walking was a 
little laborious. In the midst of the wood, we heard the sound of galloping 
horses, and were agreeably surprised by the unexpected arrival of our 
Tiamath chief, with several Indians. He seemed to have found his con- 
duct inhospitable in letting the strangers depart without a guide through the 
snow, and had come, with a few others, to pilot us a day or two on the way. 
After travelling in an easterly direction through the forest for about four 
hours, we reached a considerable stream, with a border of good grass ; and 
here, by the advice of our guides, we encamped. It is about thirty feet 
wide, and two to four feet deep; the water clear, with some current; and, 
according to the information of our Indians, is the principal affluent to the 
lake, and the head water of the Tiamath river. 

A very clear sky enabled me to obtain here to-night good observations, 
including an emersion of the first satellite of Jupiter, which give for the lon- 
gitude 121° 20' 42", and for the latitude 42° 51' 26". This emersion coin- 
cides remarkably well with the result obtained from an occultaiion at the 
encampment of December 7th to Sth, 1843 ; from which place, the line of our 
survey gives an easting of thirteen miles. The day's journey was 12 miles. 

December 14. — Our road was over a broad mountain, and we rode seven 
hours in a thick snow storm, always througli pine forests, when we came 
down upon the head waters of another stream, on which there was grass. 
The snow lay deep on the ground, and only the high swamp grass appeared 
above. The Indians were thinly clad, and I had remarked during the day 
that they suffered from the cold. This evening they told me that the snow 
was getting too deep on the mountain, and I could not induce them to go 
any farther. The stream we had struck issued from the mountain in an 
easterly direction, turning to the southward a short distance below ; andy 
drawing its course upon the ground, they made us comprehend that it pur- 
sued its way for d long distance in that direction, uniting with many other 
streams, and gradually becoming a great river. Without the subsequent 
information, which confirmed the opinion, we became immediately satisfied 
that this water formed the principal stream of the Sacrame7ito x'wei ; and, 
consequently, that this main affluent of the bay of San Francisco had its 
source within the limits of the United States, and opposite a tributary to the 



1643.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 191 

Columbia, and near the head of the Tlainath river, which goes to the ocean 
north of 42°, and within the United States. 

December 15. — A present, consisting of useful goods, afforded much satis- 
faction to our guides ; and, showing them the national tlag, I explained that 
it was a symbol of our nation ; and they engaged always to receive it in a 
friendly manner. The chief pointed out a course, by following which we 
would arrive at the big water, where no more snow was to be found. Trav- 
elling in a direction N. 60° E. by compass, which the Indians informed me 
would avoid a bad mountain to the right, we crossed the Sacramento where it 
turned to the southward, and entered a grassy level plain — a smaller Grand 
Rond ; from the lower end of which the river issued into an inviting country 
of low rolling hills. Crossing a hard-frozen swamp on the farther side of 
the Rond, we entered again the pine forest, in which very deep snow made 
our travelling slow and laborious. We were slowly but gradually ascend- 
ing a mountain ; and, after a hard journey of seven hours, we came to some 
naked places among the timber, where a few tufts of grass showed above 
the snow, on the side of a hollow ; and here we encamped. Our cow, wliich 
every day got poorer, was killed here, but the meat was rather tough. 

December 16. — We travelled this morning through snow about three feet 
deep, which, being crusted, very nuich cut the feet of our animals. The 
mountain still gradually rose ; we crossed several spring heads covered with 
quaking asp; otherwise it was all pine forest. The air was dark with falling 
snow, which every where weighed down the trees. The depths of the forest 
were profoundly still ; and below, we scarce felt a breath of the wind which 
whirled the snow through their brandies, I found that it required some 
exertion of constancy to adhere steadily to one course tlirough the woods, 
when we were uncertain how far the forest extended, or what lay beyond; 
and, on account of our animals, it would be bad to spend another night on 
the mountain. Towards noon the forest looked clear ahead, appearing sud- 
denly to terminate ; and beyond a certain point we could see no trees. 
Riding rapidly ahead to this spot, we found ourselves on the verge of a ver- 
tical and rocky wall of the mountain. At our feet — more than a thousand 
feet below — we looked into a green prairie country, in which a beautiful 
lake, some twenty miles in length, was spread along the foot of the moun- 
tains, its shores bordered whh green grass. Just then the sun broke out 
among the clouds, and illuminated the country below, while around us the 
storm raged fiercely. Not a particle of ice was to be seen on the lake, or 
snow on its borders, and all was like summer or spring. The glow of the 
sun in the valley below brightened up our hearts with sudden pleasure: and 
we made the woods ring with joyful shouts to those behind ; and gradually, 
as each came up, he stopped to enjoy the unexpected scene. Shivering on 
snow three feet deep, and stiflening in a cold north wind, we exclaimed at 
once that the names of Summer Lake and Winter Ridge should be applied 
to these two proximate places of such sudden and violent contrast. 

We were now immediately on the verge of the forest land, in which we 
had been travelling so many days ; and, looking forward to the east, scarce 
a, tree was to be seen. Viewed from our elevation, the face of the country 
exhibited only rocks and grass, and presented a region in which the arte- 
misia became the principal wood, furnishing to its scattered inhabitants fuel 
for their fires, building material for their huts, and shelter for the small 
game which ministers to their hunger and nakedness. Broadly marked by 
the boundary of the motintain wall, and immediately below us, were the 

12 



192 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

first waters of that Great Interior Basin which has the Wahsatch and Bear 
river mountains for its eastern, and the Sierra Nevada for iis western rim; 
and the edge of which we had entered upwards of three months before, at 
the Great Salt lake. 

When we had sufficiently admired the scene below, we began to think 
about descending, which here was impossible, and we turned towards the 
north, travelling always along the rocky wall. We continued on for four 
or five miles, making ineffectual attempts at several places ; and at length 
succeeded in getting down at one which was extremely difficult of descent. 
Night had closed in before the foremost reached the bottom, and it was dark 
before we all found ourselves together in the valley. There were three or 
four half dead dry cedar trees on the shore, and those who first arrived 
kindled bright fires to light on the others. One of the mules rolled over 
and over two or three hundred feet hito a ravine, but recovered himself, 
without any other injury than to his pack ; and the howitzer was left mid- 
way the mountain until morning. By observation, the latitude of this en- 
campment is 42° 57' 22". It delayed us until near noon the next day to 
recover ourselves and put every thing in order : and we made only a short 
camp along the western shore of the lake, which, in the summer tempera- 
ture we enjoyed to-day, justified the name we had given it. Our course 
would have taken us to the other shore, and over the highlands beyond ; 
but I distrusted the appearance ot the country, and decided to follow a 
plainly beaten Indian trail leading along this side of the lake. We were 
now in a country where the scarcity of water and of grass makes travel- 
ling dangerous, and great caution was necessary. 

December IS. — We continued on the trail along the narrow strip of land 
between the lake and the high rocky wall, from which we had looked down 
two days before. Almost every half mile we crossed a little spring, or 
stream of pure cold water; and the grass was certainly as fresh and green 
as in the early spring. From the white efflorescence along the shore of 
the lake, we were enabled to judge that the water was impure, like that 
of lakes we subsequently found ; but the mud prevented us from approach- 
ing it. We encamped near the eastern point of the lake, where there ap- 
peared between the hills a broad and low connecting hollow with the 
country beyond. From a rocky hill in the rear, I could see, marked out 
by a line of yellow dried grass, the bed of a stream, which probably con- 
nected the lake with other waters in the spring. 

The observed latitude of this encampment is 42° 42' 37". 
December 19. — After two hours' ride in an easterly direction, through a 
low country, the high ridge with pine forest still to our right, and a rocky 
and bald but lower one on the left, we reached a considerable fresh-water 
stream, which issues from the piney mountains. So far as we had been 
able to judge, between this stream and the lake we had crossed dividing 
grounds ; and there did not appear to be any connexion, as might be in- 
ferred from the impure condition of the lake water. 

The rapid stream of pure water, roaring along between banks overhung 
with aspens and willows, was a refreshing and unexpected sight ; and we 
followed down the course of the stream, which brought us soon into a 
marsh, or dry lake, formed by the expanding waters of the stream. It was 
covered with high reeds and rushes, and large patches of ground had been 
turned up by the squaws in digging for roots, as if a farmer had been pre- 
paring the land for grain. I could not succeed in finding the plant for which 



1S43.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 193 

they had been di«;ging. There were frequent]trails, and fresh tracks of 
Indians ; and, from the abundant signs visible, the black-tailed hare appears 
to be numerous here. It was evident that, in other seasons, this place was 
a sheet of water. Crossing this marsh towards the eastern hills, and pass- 
ing over a bordering plain of heavy sands, covered with artemisia, we en- 
camped before sundown on the creek, which here was very small, having 
lost its water in the marshy grounds. \N'e found here tolerably good grass. 
The wind to-night was high, and we had no longer our huge pine fires, 
but were driven to our old resource of small dried willows and artemisia. 
About twelve miles ahead, the valley appears to be closed in by a high^ 
dark-looking ridge. 

December 20 — Travelling for a few hours down the stream this morn- 
ing, we turned a point of the hill on our left, and came suddenly in sight of 
another and much larger lake, which, along its eastern shore, was closely 
bordered by the high black ridge which walled it in by a precipitous face on 
this side. Throughout this region the face of the country is characterized 
by these precipices of black volcanic rock, generally enclosing the valleys of 
streams, and frequently terminating the hills. Often in the course of our 
journey w'e would be tempted to continue our road up the gentle ascent of a 
sloping hill, which, at the summit, would terminate abruptly in a black preci- 
pice. Spread out over a length of 20 miles, the lake, when we first came 
in view, presented a handsome sheet of water; and I gave to it the name 
of Lake Abert, in honor of the chief of the corps to which I belonged. The 
fresh-water stream we had followed emptied into the lake by a little fall; and 
I was doubtful for a moment whether to go on, or encamp at this place. The 
miry ground in the neighborhood of the lake did not allow us to examine 
the watei" convenienily, and, being now on the borders of a desert country, 
we were moving cautiously. It was, however, still early in the day, and I 
continued on, trusting either that the water would be drinkable, or that we 
should find some little spring from the hill side. We were following an 
Indian trail which led along the steep rocky precipice ; a black ridge alon"- 
the western shore holding out no prospect whatever. The white eiflores- 
cences which lined the shore like a bank of snow, and the disagreeable 
odor which fdled the air as soon as we came near, informed us loo plainly 
that the water belonged to one of those fetid salt lakes which are common 
in this region. We continued until late in the evening to work along the 
rocky shore, but, as often afterwards, the dry inhospitable rock deceived 
us ; and, halting on the lake, we kindled up fires to guide those who were 
strasrgling along behind. We tried the water, but it was impossible to 
drink it, and most of the people to-night lay down without eating ; but 
some of us, who had always a great reluctance to close the day without 
supper, dug holes along the shore, and obtained water, which, being filtered 
was sufficiently palatable to be used, but still retained much of its nauseat- 
ing taste. There was very little grass for the animals, the shore being 
lined with a luxuriant growth of chenopodiaceous shrubs, which burned 
with a quick bright flame, and made our firewood. 

The next morning we had scarcely travelled two hours along the shore 
when we reached a place where the mountains made a bay, leaving at their 
feet a low bottom around the lake. Here we found numerous hillocks 
covered with rushes, in the (nidst of which were deep holes, or sprin^-s ol 
pure water; and the bottom was covered with grass, which, although of a 
salt and unwholesome quality, and mixed with saline efflorescences, was 
13 



194 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843. 

Still abundant, and made a good halting place to recruit our animals ; and 
we accordingly encamped here for the remainder of the day. I rode ahead 
several miles to ascertain if there was any appearance of a watercourse en- 
tering the lake; but found none, the hills preserving their dry character, 
and the shore of the lake sprinkled with the same white powdery substance, 
and covered with the same shrubs. There were flocks of ducks on the 
lake, and frequent tracks of Indians along the shore, where the grass had 
been recently burnt by their tires. 

We ascended the bordering mountain, in order to obtain a more perfect 
view of the lake in sketching its figure ; hills sweep entirely around its 
basin, from Avhich the waters have no outlet. 

December 22. — To-day we left this forbidding lake. Impassable rocky 
ridges barred our progress to tlie eastward, and I accordingly bore oft' to- 
wards the south, over an extensive sage plain. At a considerable distance 
ahead, and a little on our left, was a rarge of snowy mountains, and the 
country declined gradually towards the k ot of a high and nearer ridge im- 
mediately before us, which presented the feature of black precipices, now 
becoming common to the country. On the summit of the ridge, snow was 
visible ; and there being every indication of a stream at its base, we rode 
on until after dark, but were unable to reach it, and halted among the sage 
bushes on the open plain, without either grass or water. The two India- 
rubber bags had been filled with water in the morning, which afforded suf- 
ficient for the camp ; and i ain in the night formed pools, which relieved the 
thrist of the animals. Where we encamped on the bleak sandy plain, the 
Indians had made huts or circular enclosures, about four feet high and twelve 
feet broad, of artemisia bushes. Whether these had been forts or houses, 
or what they had been doing in such a desert place, we could not ascertain. 

December 23. — The weather is mild ; the thermometer at daylight 38'' ; 
the wind having been from the southward for several days.^ The country 
has a very forbidding appearance, presenting to the eye nothing but sage 
and barren ridges. We rode up towards the mountain, along the foot of 
which we found a lake, which we could not approach on account of the 
mud ; and, passing around its southern end, ascended the slope at the loot 
of the ridge, where in some hollows w'e had discovered bushes and small 
trees — in such situations, a suie sign of water. We found here several 
springs, and the hill side was well sprinkled with a species o( festuca — 
a better grass than we had found for many days. Our elevated position 
gave us a good view over the country, but we discovered nothing very en- 
couraging. Southward, about ten miles distant, was another small lake, 
towards which a broad trail led along the ridge ; and this appearing to 
afford the most practicable route, I determined to continue our journey in 
that direction. _ 

December 24. — We found the water of the lake tolerably pure, and en- 
camped at the farther end. There were some good grass and canes along 
the shore, and the vegetation at this place consisted principally of chenopo- 
diaceous shrubs. 

December 25. — We were roused, on Christmas morning, by a discharge 
from the small arms and howitzer, with which our people saluted the day ; 
and the name of which we bestowed on the lake. It was the first time, per- 
haps, in this remote and desolate region, in which it had been so commem- 
orated. Always, on days of religious or national commemoration, our voy- 
ageurs expect some unusual allowance 3 and, having nothing else, I gave 



1843.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 195 

them each a little brandy, (which was carefully guarded, as one of the most 
useful articles a traveller can carry,) with some coffee and sugar, which 
here, where every eatable w'as a luxury, was sufficient to n)ake them a feast. 
The day was sunny and warm ; and, resuming our journey, we crossed 
some slight dividing grounds into a similar basin, walled in on the right by 
a lofty mountain ridge. The plainly beaten trail still continued, and occa- 
sionally we passed camping grounds of the Indians, which indicated to me 
that we were on one of the great thoroughfares of the country. In the 
afternoon I attempted to travel in a more eastern direction ; but, altera few 
laborious miles, was beaten back into the basin by an impassable country. 
There were fresh Indian tracks about the valley, and last night ahorse was 
stolen. We encatuped on the valley bottom, wheie there was some cream- 
like water in ponds, colored by a clay soil and fiozen over. Chenopodiaceous 
shrubs constituted the growth, and made again our iire wood. The animals 
were driven to the hill, where there was tolerably good grass. 

December 26. — Our general course was again south. The country con- 
sists of larger or smaller basins, into which the mountain waters run down, 
forming small lakes; they present a perfect level, from which the moun- 
tains rise immediately and abruptly. Between the successive basins, the 
dividing grounds are usually very slight ; and it is probable that, in the sea- 
sons of high water, many of these basins are in communication. At such 
times there is evidently an abundance of water, though now we find scarce- 
ly more than the dry beds. On either side, the mountains, though not very 
high, appear to be rocky and sterile. The basin in which we were travel- 
ling declined towards the southwest corner, where the mountains indicated 
a narrow outlet ; and, turning round a rocky point or cape, we continued 
up a lateral branch valley, in which we encamped at night on a rapid, pretty 
little stream of fresh water, which we found unexpectedly among the sage 
near the ridge, on the right side of the valley. It was bordered with grassy 
bottoms and clumps of willows, the water partially frozen. This stream 
belongs to the basin we had left. By a partial observation to-night, our 
camp was found to be directly on the 42d parallel. To night a horse be- 
longing to Carson, one of the best we had in the camp, was stolen by the 
Indians. 

December 27. — We continued up the valley of the stream, the principal 
branch of which here issues from a bed of high mountains. We turned 
up a branch to the left, and fell into an Indian trail, which conducted us by 
a good road over open bottoms along the creek, where the snow was five or 
six inches deep. Gradually ascending, the trail led through a good broad 
pass in the mountain, where we found the snow about one foot deep. There 
were some remarkably large cedars in the pass, which were covered with an 
unusual quantity of frost, which we supposed might possibly indicate the 
neighborhood of water; and as, in the arbitrary position of Mary's lake, 
we were already beginning to look for it, this circumstance contributed to 
our hope of finding it^near. Descending from the mountain, we reached 
another basin, on the flat lake bed of which we found no water, and 
encamped among the sage on the bordering plain, where the snow was 
still about one foot deep. Among this the grass was remarkably green, and 
to-night the animals fared tolerably well. 

December 28. — The snow being deep, I had determined, if any more 
horses were stolen, to follow the tracks of the Indians into the mountains, 



196 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1843, 

and put a temporary check to their sly operations ; but it did not occur 
again. 

Oar road this morning lay down a level valley, bordered by steep moun- 
tainous ridges, rising very abruptly from the plain. Artemisia was the prin- 
cipal plant, mingled with Fremontia and the chenopodiaceous shrubs. 
The artemisia was here extremely large, being sometimes a foot in diame- 
ter and eight feet high- Riding quietly along over the snow, we came sud- 
denly upon smokes rising among these bushes ; and, galloping up, we found 
two huts, open at the top, and loosely built of sage, which appeared to have 
been deserted at the instant; and, looking hastily around, we saw several 
Indians on the crest of the ridge near by, and several others scrambling up 
the side. We had come upon them so suddenly, that they had been well- 
nigh surprised in their lodges. A sage fire was burning in the middle ; a 
few baskets made of straw were lying about, with one or two rabbit skins ; 
and there was a little grass scattered about, on which they had been lying. 
" Tabibo — bo !" they shouted from the hills — a word which, in the Snake 
language, signifies white — and remained looking at us from behind the 
rocks. Carson and Godey rode towards the hill, but the men ran off like 
deer. They had been so much pressed, that a woman with two children 
had dropped behind a sage bush near the lodge, and when Carson accident- 
ally stumbled upon her, she immediately began screaming in the extremity 
of fear, and shut her eyes fast, to avoid seeing him. She was brought back 
to the lodge, and we endeavored in i^ain to open a communication with the 
men. By dint of presents, and friendly demonstrations, she was brought 
to calmness; and we found that ihey belonged to the Snake nation, speak- 
ing the language of that people. Eight or ten appeared to live together, 
under the same little shelter ; and they seemed to have no other subsistence 
than the roots or seeds they might have stored up, and the hares which live 
in the sage, and which they are enabled to track through the snow, and are 
very skilful in killing. Their skins afTord them a little scanty covering. 
Herding together among bushes, and crouching almost naked over a little 
sage fire, using their instinct only to procure food, these may be considered, 
among human beings, the nearest approach to the mere animal creation. 
We have reason to believe that these had never before seen the face of a 
white man. 

The day had been pleasant, but about two o'clock it began to blow ; and 
crossing a slight dividing ground we encamped on the sheltered side of a 
hill, where there was good bunch grass, having made a day's journey of 24 
miles. The night closed in, threatening snow ; but the large sage bushes 
made bright fires. 

December 29. — The morning mild, and at 4 o'clock it commenced snow- 
ing. We took our way across a plain, thickly covered with snow, towards 
a range of hills in the southeast. The sky soon became so dark with snow, 
that little could be seen of the surrounding country ; and we reached the 
summit of the hills in a heavy snow storm. On ,the side we had ap- 
proached, this had appeared to be only a ridge of low hills ; and we were 
surprised to find ourselves on the summit of a bed of broken mountains, 
which, as far as the weather would permit us to see, declined rapidly to 
some low country ahead, presenting a dreary and savage character; and 
for a moment I looked around in doubt on the wild and inhospitable pros- . 
pect, scarcely knowing what road to take which might conduct us to some 
place of shelter for the night. Noticing among the hills the head of a 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 197 

grassy hollow, I determined to follow it, in the hope that it would conduct 
us to a stream. We followed a winding descent lor sevtrdl miles, the hol- 
low gradually broadening into little meadows, and becoming the bed of a 
stream as we advanced ; and towards night we were agreeably surprised 
by the appearance of a willow grove, where we found a sheltered camp, 
with water and excelleni and abundant grass. The grass, which was cov- 
ered by the snow on the bottom, was long and green, and the face of the 
mountain had a more favorable character in its vegetation, being smoother, 
and covered with good bunch grass. The snow was deep, and the night 
very cold. A broad trail had entered the valley from the right, and a short 
distance below the camp were the tracks where a considerable party of 
Indians had passed on horseback, who had turned out to the left, appa- 
rently with the view of crossing the mountains to the eastward. 

December 30. — After following the stream for a few hours in a south- 
easterly direction, it entered a caTion where we could not follow ; but de- 
termined not to leave the stream, we searched a passage below, where we 
could regain it, and entered a regular narrow valley. The water had now 
more the appearance of a flowing creek ; several times we passed groves 
of willows, and we began to feel ourselves out of all difficulty. From our 
position, it was reasonable to conclude that this stream would find its outlet 
in Mary's lake, and conduct us into a better country. We had descended 
rapidly, and here we found very little siiow. On both sides, the mountains 
showed often stupendous and curious-looking rocks, which at several places 
so narrowed the valley, that scarcely a pass was left for the camp. It was 
a singular place to travel through — shut u}) in the earth, a sort of chasm, 
the little strip of grass" under our feet, the rough walls of bare rock on 
either hand, and the narrow strip of sky above. The grass to-night was 
abundant, and we encamped in high spirits. 

December 31. — After an hour's ride this morning, our hopes were once 
more destroyed. The valley opened out, and before us again lay one of 
the dry basins. x\.fter some search, we discovered a higli-water outlet, 
which brought us in a few miles, and by a descent of several hundred feet, 
into another long broad basin, in which we found the bed of a stream, and 
obtained sufficient water by cutting the ice. The grass on the bottoms 
was salt and unpalatable. 

Here we concluded the year 1843, and our new year's eve was rather 
a gloomy one. The result of our journey began to be very uncertain ; the 
country was singularly unfavorable to travel; the grasses being frequently 
of a very unwholesome character, and the hoofs of our animals were so 
worn and cut by the rocks, that many of them were lame, and could 
scarcely be got along. 

New Yearns day^ 1844. — We continued down the valley, between a dry- 
looking black ridge on the left and a more snowy and high one on the 
right. Our road was bad along the bottom, being broken by gullies and 
impeded by sage, and sandy on the hills, where there is not a blade of 
grass, nor does any appear on the mountains. The soil in many places 
consists of a fine powdery sand, covered with a saline efflorescence; and 
the general character of the country is desert. During the day we di- 
rected our course towards a black cape, at the foot of which a column of 
smoke indicated hot springs. 

January 2. — We were on the road early, the face of the country hidden 
by falling snow. We travelled along the bed of the stream, in some places 



198 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

dry, in others covered with ice ; the travelling being very bad, through 
deep fine sand, rendered tenacious by a mixture of clay. The weather 
cleared up a little at noon, and we reached the hot springs of which we 
had seen the vapor the day before. There was a large field of the usual 
salt grass here, peculiar to such places. The country otherwise is a per- 
fect barren, without a blade of grass, the only plants being some dwarf 
Fremontias. We passed the rocky cape, a jagged broken point, bare and 
torn. The rocks are volcanic, and the hills here have a burnt appear- 
ance — cinders and coal occasionally appearing as at a blacksmith's forge. 
We crossed the large dry bed of a muddy lake in a southeasterly direction, 
and encamped at night without water and without grass, among sage bushes 
covered with snow. The heavy road made several mules give out to-day; 
and a horse, which had made the journey from the States successfully thus 
far, was left on the trail. 

January 3. — A fog, so dense that we could not see a hundred yards, 
covered the country, and the men that w^ere sent out after the horses were 
bewildered and lost; and Ave w^ere consequently detained at camp until 
late in the day. Our situation had now become a serious one. We had' 
reached and run over the position where, according to the best maps in 
my possession, we should have found Mary's lake, or river. We were 
evidently on the verge of the desert which had been reported to us ; and 
the appearance of the country was so forbidding, that I was afraid to enter 
it, and determined to bear away to the southward, keeping close along the 
mountains, in the full expectation of reaching the Buenaventura river. 
This morning I put every man in the camp on foot — myself, of course, 
among the rest — and in this manner lightened by distribution the loads of 
the animals. We travelled seven or eight miles along the ridge border- 
ing the valley, and encamped where there were a few bunches of grass on 
the bed of a hill torrent, without water. There were some large artemi- 
sias ; but the principal plants are chenopodiaceous shrubs. The rock com- 
posing the mountains is here changed suddenly into white granite. The 
fog showed the tops of the hills at sunset, and stars enough for observations 
in the early evening, and then closed over us as before. Latitude by ob- 
servation, 40° 48' 15". 

January 4. — The fog to-day was still more dense, and the people again 
were bew ildered. We travelled a few miles around the western point of 
the ridge, and encamped where there were a few tufts of grass, but no- 
water. Our animals now were in a very alarming state, and there was in- 
creased anxiety in the camp. 

January 5. — Same dense fog continued, and one of the mules died in 
carap this morning. 1 have had occasion to remark, on such occasions as 
these, that animals which are about to die leave the band, and, coming 
into the camp, lie down about the fires. VVe moved to a place where 
there was a little better grass, about two miles distant. Taplin, one of our 
best men, who had gone out on a scouting excursion, ascended a mountain 
near by, and to his great surprise emerged into a region of bright sunshine, 
in which the upper parts of the mountain were glowing, while below ali 
was obscured in the darkest fog. 

January Q. — The fog continued the same, and, with Mr. Preuss and Car- 
son, I ascended the mountain, to sketch the leading features of the country, 
as some indication of our future route, while Mr. Fitzpatrick explored the 
country below. In a very short distance we had ascended above the mist, 



1S44] CAPT. FREMONT'S xNARRATIVE. I99 

but the view obtained was not very ^[ratifying. The fog had partially 
cleared off from below when we reached the summit ; and in the south- 
west corner of a basin communicating with that in which we had encamp- 
ed, we saw a lofty column of smoke, 1 6 milesdistant, indicating the presence 
of hot springs. There, also, appeared to be the outlet of those draining 
channels of the country ;and, as such places afforded always more or less 
grass, I determined to steer in that direction. The ridge we had ascended 
appeared to be composed of fragments of white granite. We saw here 
traces of sheep and antelope. 

Entering the neighboring valley, and crossing the bed of another lake, 
after a hard day's travel over ground of yielding mud and sand, we reached 
the springs, where we found an abundance of grass, which, though only 
tolerably good, made this place, with reference to the past, a refreshing and 
agreeable spot. 

This is the most extraordinary locality of hot springs we had met during 
the journey. The basin of the largest one has a circumference of several 
hundred feet ; but there is at one extremity a circular space of about fifteen 
feet in diameter, entirely occupied by the boiling water. It boils up at ir- 
regular intervals, and with much noise. The water is clear, and the spring 
deep ; a pole about sixteen feet long was easily immersed in the centre, 
but we had no means of forming a good idea of the depth. It was surround- 
ed on the margin with a border of ^reen grass, and near the shore the tem- 
perature of the water was 206°. We had no means of ascertaining that 
of the centre, where the heat was greatest ; but, by dispersing the water 
"with a pole, the temperature at the margin was increased to 208", and ia 
the centre it was doubtless higher. By driving the pole towards the bot- 
tom, the water was made to boil up with increased force and noise. There 
are several other interesting places, where water and smoke or gas escape, 
but they would require a long description. The water is impregnated with 
common salt, but not so much so as to render it unfit for general cooking; 
and a mixture of snow made it pleasant to drink. 

In the immediate neighborhood, the valley bottom is covered almost ex- 
clusively with chenopodiaceous shrubs, of greater luxuriance, and larger 
growth, than we have seen them in any preceding part of the journey. 

I obtained this evening some astronomical observations. 

Our situation now required caution. Including those which gave out 
from the injured condition of their feet, and those stolen by Indians, we 
had lost, since leaving the Dalles of the Columbia, fifteen animals; and of 
these, nine had been left in the last few days. I therefore determined, un- 
til we should reach a country of water and vegetation, to feel our way 
ahead, by having the line of route explored some fifteen or twenty miles 
in advance, and only to leave a present encampment when the succeeding 
one was known. 

Taking with me Godey and Carson, I made to-day a thorough explora- 
tion of the neighboring valleys, and found in a ravine in the bordering 
mountains a good camping place, where was water in springs, and a suffi- 
cient quantity of grass for a night. Overshading the springs were some 
trees of the sweet cottonwood, which, after a long interval of absence, we 
saw again with pleasure, regarding them as harbingers of a better country. 
To us, they were eloquent of green prairies and butfalo. We found here a 
broad and plainly marked trail, on which there were tracks of horses, and 
we appeared to have regained one of the thoroughfares which pass by the 



200 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

watering places of the country. On the western mountains of the valley, 
with which this of the boiling spring communicates, we remarked scat- 
tered cedars — probably an indication that we were on the borders of the 
timbered region extending to the Pacific. We reached the camp at sunset, 
after a day's ride of about forty miles. The horses we rode were in good 
order, being of some that were kept for emergencies, and rarely used. 

Mr. Preuss had ascended one of the mountains, and occupied the day in 
sketching the country ; and Mr. Fitzpatrick had found, a lew miles distant, 
a hollow of excellent grass and pure water, to which the animals were 
driven, as I remained another day to give them an opportunity to recruit 
their strength. Indians appear to be every where prowling about like wild 
animals, and there is a fresh tiail across the snow in the valley near. 

Latitude of the boiling springs, 40° 39' 46". 

On the 9th we crossed over to the cottonwood camp. Among the shrubs 
on the hills were a few bushes of ephedra occidentalism which afterwards 
occurred frequently along our road, and, as usual, the lowlands were occu- 
pied with artemisia. While the party proceeded to this place, Carson and 
myself reconnoitred the road in advance, and found another good encamp- 
ment for the following day. 

January 10. — We continued our reconnoisance ahead, pursuing a south 
direction in the basin along the ridge ; the camp following slowly after. On 
a large trail there is never any doubt of finding suitable places for encamp- 
ments. We reached the end of the basin, where we found, in a hollow of 
the mountain which enclosed it, an abundance of good bunch grass. 
Leaving a signal for the party to encamp, we continued our way up the 
hollow, intending to see what lay beyond the mountain. The hollow was 
several miles long, forming a good pass, the snow deepening to about a 
foot as we neared the summit. Beyond, a defile between the mountains 
descended rapidly about two thousand feet; and, filling up all the lower 
space, was a sheet of green water, some twenty miles broad. It broke upon 
our eyes like the ocean. The neighboring peaks rose high above us, 
and we ascended one of them to obtain a better view. The waves were 
curling in the breeze, and their dark-green color shoM-ed it to be a body of 
deep water. For a long time we sat enjoying the view, for we had become 
fatigued with mountains, and the free expanse of moving waves was very 
grateful. It was set like a gem in the mountains, which, Irom our position, 
seemed to enclose it almost entirely. At the western end it communicated 
with the line of basins we had left a few days since ; and on the opposite 
side it swept a ridge of snowy mountains, the foot of the great Sierra. Its 
position at first inclined us to believe it Mary's lake, but the rugged moun- 
tains were so entirely discoidant with descriptions of its low rushy shores 
and open country, that we concluded it some unknown body of water ; 
which it afterwards proved to be. 

On our road down, the next day, we saw herds of mountain sheep, and 
•encamped on a little stream at the mouth of the defile, about a mile from 
the margin of the water, to which we hurried down immediately. The 
water is so slightly salt, that, at first, we thought it fresh, and would be 
pleasant to drink when no other could be had. The shore was rocky — a 
handsome beach, which reminded us of the sea. On some large granite 
boulders that were scattered about the shore, I remarked a coating of a 
calcareous substance, in some places a few inches and in others a foot in 
thickness. Near our camp, the hills, which were of primitive rock, were 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. oqi 

also covered with this substance, which was in too great quantity on the 
mountains along the shore oi' the lake to have been deposited by water, 
and has the appearance of having been spread over the rocks in mass.* 

Where we had halted, appeared to be a favorite camping place for In- 
dians. 

January 13. — We followed again a broad Indian trail along the shore of 
the lake to the southward. For a short space we had room enough in the 
bottom ; but, after travelling a short distance, the wafer swept the foot of 
precipitous mountains, the peaks of which are about 3,000 feet above the 
lake. The trail wound along the base of these precipices, against which 
the water dashed below, by a way nearly impracticable for the howitzer. 
During a greater part of the morning the lake was nearly hid by a snow 
storm, and the waves broke on the narrow beach in a long line of foaming 
surf, five or six feet high. The day was unpleasantly cold, the wind driv- 
ing the snow sharp against our faces ; and, having advanced only about 12 
miles, we encamped in a bottom formed by a ravine, covered with good 
grass, which was fresh and green. 

We did not get the howitzer into camp, but were obliged to leave it on 
tlie rocks until morning. We saw several flocks of sheep, but did not suc- 
ceed in killing any. Ducks were riding on the waves, and several large 
fish were seen. The mountain sides were crusted with the calcareous 
cement previously mentioned. There were chenopodiaceoiis and other 
shrubs along the beach ; and, at the foot of the rocks, an abundance of 
ephedra occidentalism wiiose dark-green color makes them evergreens among 
the shrubby growth of the lake. Towards evening the snow began to fall 
heavily, and the country had a wintry appearance. 

The next morning the snow was rapidly melting under a warm sun. 
Part of the morning was occupied in bringing up the gun ; and, making 
only nine miles, we encamped on the shore, opposite a very remarkable rock 
in the lake, which had attracted our attention for many miles. It rose, ac- 
cording to our estimate, 600 feet above the water ; and, from the point we 
viewed it, presented a pretty exact outline of the great pyramid of Cheops. 
Like other rocks along the shore, it seemed to be incrusted with cal- 
careous cement. This striking feature suggested a name for the lake ; 
and I called it Pyramid lake ; and though it may be deemed by some a 
fanciful resemblance, I can undertake to say that the future traveller will 
find much more striking resemblance between this rock and the pyramids 
of Egypt, than there is between them and the object from which they 
take their name. 

The elevation of this lake above the sea is 4,890 feet, being nearly 700 
feet higher than the Great Salt lake, from which it lies nearly west, and 
distant about eight degrees of longitude. The position and^levation of this 

* The label attached to a specimen of this rock was lost ; but I append an analysis of that which, 
from memory, I judge to be the specimen. 

Carbonate of Hmc --_._..- 77.31 

Carbonate of magnesia - - - - - - - - 5.25 

Oxide of iron - - - - - - - -. - 1-60 

Alumina - - - - - - - - - 105 

Silica ....--.-.- 8.55 

Organic matter, water, and loss - - - - - - - 6.24 

100.00 



202 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1S44. 

lake make it an object of geographical interest. It is the nearest lake to 
the western rim, as the Great Salt lake is to the eastern rim, of the Great 
Basin which lies between the base of the Rocky mountains and the Sierra 
Nevada ; and the extent and character of which, its whole circumference 
and contents, it is so desirable to know. 

The last of the cattle which had been driven from the Dalles was killed 
here for food, and was still in good condition. 

January 15. — A fesv poor-looking Indians made their appearance this 
morning, and we succeeded in getting one into the camp. He was naked, 
with the exception of a tunic of hare skins. He told us that there was a 
river at the end of the lake, but that he lived in the rocks near by. From 
the lew words our people could understand, he spoke a dialect of the Snake 
language ; but we were not able to understand enough to know whether 
the river ran in or out, or what was its course ; consequently, there still 
remained a chance that this might be Mary's lake. 

Groves of large cottonwood, which we could see at the mouth of the 
river, indicated that it was a stream of considerable size ; and, at all events, 
we had the pleasure to know that now we were in a country where human 
beings could live. Accompanied by the Indian, we resumed our road, pass- 
ing on the wav several caves in the rock where there were baskets and 
seeds ; but the people had disappeared. We saw also horse tracks along 
the shore. 

Early in the afternoon, when we were approaching the groves at the 
mouth of the river, three or four Indians met us on the trail. We had an 
explanatory conversation in signs, and then moved on together towards the 
village, which the chief said was encamped on the bottom. 

Reaching the groves, we found the inlet of a large fresh-water stream, 
and all at once were satisfied that it was neither Mary's river nor the 
waters of the Sacramento, but that we had discovered a large interior lake, 
which the Indians informed us had no outlet. It is about 35 miles long ; 
and, by the mark of the water line along the shores, the spring level is about 
12 feet above its present waters. The chief commenced speaking in a loud 
voice as we approached ; and parties of Indians armed with bows and ar- 
rows issued from the thickets. We selected a strong place for our encamp- 
ment — a grassy bottom, nearly enclosed by the river, and furnished with 
abundant fire wood. The village, a collection of straw huts, was a few 
hundred yards higher up. An Indian brought in a large fish to trade, 
which we had the inexpressible satisfaction to find was a salmon trout ; we 
gathered round him eagerly. The Indians were amused with our delight, 
and immediately brought in numbers ; so that the camp Avas soon stocked. 
Their flavor was excellent — superior, in fact, to that of any fish I have ever 
known. They^were of extraordinary size — about as large as the Columbia 
river salmon — generally from two to four feet in length. From the infor- 
mation of Mr. Walker, who passed among some lakes lying more to the 
eastward, this fish is common to the streams of the inland lakes. He sub- 
sequently informed me that he had obtained them w^eighing six pounds 
when cleaned and the head taken off; Avhich corresponds very well with 
the size of those obtained at this place. They doubtless formed the subsist- 
ence of these people, who hold the fishery in exclusive possession. 

1 remarked that one of them gave a fish to the Indian we had first seen, 
which he carried off" to his family. To them it was probably a feast ; being 
of the Digger tribe, and having no share in the fishery, living generally on 



1S44.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 203 

seeds and roots. Although this was a time of the year when the fisli have 
not yet become fat, they were excellent, and we could only imagine what 
they are at the proper season. These Indians were very tut, and appeared 
to live an easy and happy life. They crowded into the camp more than 
was consistent with our safety, retaining always their arms; and, as they 
made some unsatisfactory demonstrations, they were given to understand 
that they would not be permitted to come armed into the camp ; and strong 
guards were kept with the horses. Strict vigilance was maintained among 
the people, and one-third at a time were kept on guard during the night. 
There is no reason to doubt that these dispositions, uniformly preserved, 
conducted our party securely through Indians famed for treachery. 

In the mean lime, such a salmon-trout feast as is seldom seen was going 
on in our camp ; and every variety of manner in which fish could be pre- 
pared — boiled, tried, and roasted in the ashes — was put into requisition ; 
and every few minutes an Indian would be seen running off to spear a 
fresh one. Whether these Indians had seen whites before, v-'e could not 
be certain ; but they were evidently in communication with others who 
had, as one of them had some brass buttons, and we noticed several other 
articles of civilized manufacture. We could obtain from them but little 
information respecting the country. They made on the ground a drawing 
of the river, which they represented as issuing from another lake in the 
mountains three or four days distant, in a direction a little west df south ; 
beyond which, they drew a mountain ; and further still, two rivers ; on one 
of which they told us that people like ourselves travelled. Whether they 
alluded to the settlements on the Sacramento, or to a party from the Unit- 
ed States w4iich had crossed the Sierra about three degrees to the south- 
ward, a few years since, I am unable t© determine. 

I tried unsuccessfully to prevail on some of them to guide us for a few 
days on the road, but they only looked at each other and laughed. 

The latitude of our encampment, which may be considered the mouth 
of the inlet, is 39° 51' 13" by our observations. 

January 16. — This morning we continued our journey along this beau- 
tiful stream, which we naturally called the Salmon Trout river. Large 
trails led up on either side ; the stream was handsomely timbered with large 
cotton woods ; and the waters were very clear and pure. We wei e travelling 
along the mountains of the great Sierra, which rose on our right, covered 
with snow ; but below the temperature was mild and pleasant. We saw a 
number of dams which the Indians had constructed to catch fish. After 
having made about 18 miles, we encamped under some large cottonwoods 
on the river bottom, where there was tolerably good grass. 

January 17. — This morning we left the river, which here issues from the 
mountains on the west. With every stream I now expected to see the great 
Buenaventura ; and Carson hurried eagerly to search, on every one we 
reached, for beaver cuttings, which he alsvays maintained we should find 
only on waters that ran to the Pacific ; and the absence of such signs was 
to him a sure indication that the water had no outlet from the great basin. 
We followed the Indian trail through a tolerably level country, with small 
sage bushes, which brought us, after 20 miles journey, to another large 
stream, timbered with cottonwood, and flowing also out of the mountains, 
but running more directly to the eastward. 

On the way we surprised a family of Indians in the hills; but the man 
ran up the mountain with rapidity ; and the woman was so terrified, and 



204 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

kept up such a continued screaming, that we could do nothing with her, 
and were obliged to let her go. 

January 18. — There were Indian lodges and fish dams on the stream. 
There were no beaver cuttings on the river; but below, it turned round 
to the right ; and, hoping that it would prove a branch of the Buenaventura, 
we followed it down for about three hours, and encamped. 

I rode out with Mr. Fitzpatriek and Carson to reconnoitre the country, 
which had evidently been alarmed by the news of our appearance. This 
stream joined with the open valley of another to the eastward ; but which 
way the main water ran, it was impossible to tell. Columns of smoke rose 
over the country at scattered intervals — signals by which the Indians here, 
as elsewhere, communicate to each other that enemies are in the country. 
It is a signal of ancient and very universal application among barbarians. 

Examining into the condition of the animals when I returned into the 
camp, I found their feet so much cut up by the rocks, and so many of 
them lame, that it was evidently impossible that they could cross the coun- 
try to the Rocky mountains. Every piece of iron that could be used for the 
purpose had been converted into nails, and we could make no further use 
of the shoes we had remaining. I therefore determined to abandon my 
eastern course, and to cross the Sierra Nevada into the valley of the Sacra- 
mento, wherever a pmcticable pass could be found. My decision was heard 
with joy 'by the people, and diifused new life throughout the camp. 

Latitude, by observation, 39° 24' 16". 

January 19. — A great number of smokes are still visible this morning, 
attesting at once the alarm which our appearance had spread among these 
people, and their ignorance of us. If they knew the whites, they would 
understand that their only object in coming among them was to trade, which 
required peace and friendship ; but they have nothing to trade — conse- 
quently, nothing to attract the white man ; hence their fear and flight. 

At daybreak we had a heavy snow ; but sat out, and, returning up the 
stream, went out of our way in a circuit over a little mountain ; and en- 
camped on the same stream, a few miles above, in latitude 39° 19' 21 " by 
observation. 

January 20. — To-day we continued up the stream, and encamped on it 
close to the mountains. The freshly fallen snow was covered with the 
tracks of Indians, who had descended from the upper waters, probably 
called down by the smokes m the plain. 

We ascended a peak of the range, which commanded a view of this stream 
behind the first ridge, where it was winding its course through a somewhat 
open valley, and I sometimes regret that I did not make the trial to cross 
here ; but while we had fair weather below, the mountains were darkened 
with falling snow, and, feeling unwilling to encounter them, we turned 
away again to the southward. In that direction we travelled the next day 
over a tolerably level country, having always the high niountains on the 
west. There Avas but little snow or rock on the ground ; and, after having 
travelled 24 miles, we encamped again on another large stream, running 
off to the northward and eastward, to meet that we had left. It ran through 
broad bottoms, having a fine meadow-land appearance. 

Latitude 39° 01' 53". 

January 22. — We travelled up the stream for about 14 miles to the foot 
of the mountains, from which one branch issued in the southwest, the 
other flowing from SSE. along their base. Leaving the camp below, 



1S44.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 095 

we ascended (he range through which the first stream passed, in a canon ; 
on the western side was a circular valley, about 15 miles long, through 
which the stream wound its way, issuing from a gorge in the main moun- 
tain, which rose abruptly beyond. The valley looked yellow with faded 
grass ; and the trail we had followed was visible, making towards the gorge, 
and this was evidently a pass ; but again, while all was bright sunshine on 
the ridge and on the valley where we were, the snow was falling heavily 
in the mountains. I determined to go still to the southward, and encamp- 
ed on the stream near the forks ; the animals being fatigued and the 
grass tolerably good. 

The rock of the ridge we had ascended is a compact lava, assuming a 
granitic appearance and structure, and containing, in some places, small 
nodules of obsidian. So far as composition and aspect are concerned, the 
rock in other parts of the ridge appears to be granite ; but it is probable 
that this is only a compact form of lava of recent origin. 

By observation, the elevation of the encampment was 5,020 feet ; and 
the latitude 38° 49 54". 

January 23. — We moved along the course of the other branch towards 
the southeast, the country aftbrding a fine i-oad ; and, passing some slight 
dividing grounds, descended towards the valley of another stream. There 
was a somewhat rough-looking mountain ahead, which it appeared to issue 
from, or to enter — we could not tell which ; and as the course of the valley 
and the inclination of the ground had a favorable direction, we were 
sanguine to find here a branch of the Buenaventura ; but were again dis- 
appointed, finding it an inland water, on which we encamped after a day's 
journey of 24 miles. It was evident that, from the time we descended into 
the plain at Suinmei- lake, we had been flanking the great range of moun- 
tains which divided the Great Basin from the waters of the Pacific ; and 
that the continued succession, and almost connexion, of lakes and rivers 
which we encountered, were the drainings of that range. Its rains, springs, 
and snows, would sufficiently account for these lakes and streams, numer- 
ous as they were. 

January 24. — A man was discovered running towards the camp as we 
were about to start this morning, who proved to be an Indian of rather ad- 
vanced age — a sort of forlorn hope, who seemed to have been worked up 
into the resolution of visiting the strangers who were passing through the 
country. He seized the hand of the first man he met as he came up, out 
of breath, and held on, as if to assure himself of protection. He brought 
with him in a little skin bag a few pounds of the seeds of a pine tree, which 
to-day we saw for the first time, and which Dr. Torrey has described as a 
new species, under the name oi pinus monophyllus ; in popular lantruage, 
it might be called the nut pine. We purchased them all from him. The 
nut is oily, of very agreeable flavor, and must be very nutritious, as it 
constitutes the principal subsistence of the tribes among which we were now 
travelling. By a present of scarlet cloth, and other striking articles, we 
prevailed upon this man to be our guide of two days' journey. As clearly 
as possible by signs, we made him understand our object ; and he ent^aged 
to conduct us in sight of a good pass which he knew. Here we ceased to 
hear the Shoshonee language ; that of this man being perfectly unintelli- 
gible. Several Indians, who had been waiting to see what reception he 
would meet with, now came into' camp; and, accompanied by the new 
comers, we resumed our journey. 



206 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1S44. 

The road led us up the creek, which here becomes a rather rapid moun- 
tain stream, fiity feet wide, between dark-looking hills without snow ; but 
immediately beyond them rose snowy mountains on either side, timbered 
principally with the nut pine. On the lower grounds, the general height 
of this tree is twelve to twenty feet, and eight inches the greatest diameter ; 
it is rather branching, and has a peculiar and singular but pleasant odor. 
We followed the river for only a short distance along a rocky trail, and 
crossed it at a dam which the Indians made us comprehend had been built 
to catch salmon trout. The snow and ice were heaped up against it three 
or four feet deep entirely across the stream. 

Leaving here the stieam, which runs through impassable canons, we con- 
tinued our road over a very broken country, passing through a low gap be- 
tween the snowy mountains. The rock which occurs immediately in the 
pass has the appearance of impuie sandstone, containing scales of black 
mica. This may be only a stratified lava ; on issuing from the gap, the 
compact lava, and other volcanic products usual in the country, again oc- 
curred. We descended from the gap into a wide valley, or rather basin, and 
encamped on a small tributary to the last stream, on which there was very 
good grass. It was covered with such thick ice, that it required some labor 
with pickaxes to make holes for the animals to drink. The banks are 
lightly wooded with willow, and on the upper bottoms are sage and Fre- 
montia with ephedra occidentalism which begins to occur more frequently. 
The day has been a summer one, warm and pleasant ; nosnow' on the trail, 
which, as we are all on foot, makes travelling more agreeable. The hunt- 
ers went into the neighboring mountains, but found no game. We have 
five Indians in camp to-night. 

January 25. — The morning was cold and bright, and as the sun rose the 
day became beautiful. A party of twelve Indians came down from the 
mountains to trade pine nuts, of which each one carried a little bag. These 
seemed now to be the staple of the country ; and whenever we met an In- 
dian, his friendly salutation consisted in otlering a few nuts to eat and to 
trade ; their only arms were bows and flint-pointed arrows. It appeared 
that, in almost all the valleys, the neighboring bands were at war with each 
other ; and we had some difficulty in prevailing on our guides to accompany 
us on this day's journey, being at war with the people on the other side 
of a large snowy mountain which lay before us. 

The general level of ihe country appeared to be getting higher, and we 
were gradually entering the heart of the mountains. Accompanied by all 
the Indians, we ascended a long ridge, and reached a pure spring at the 
edge of the timber, where the Indians had waylaid and killed an antelope, 
and where the greater part of them left us. Our pacific conduct had quieted 
their alarms ; and though at war among each other, yet all confided in us. 
Thanks to the combined effects of power and kindness — for our arras in- 
spired respect, and our little presents and good treatment conciliated their 
confidence. Here we suddenly entered snow six inches deep, and the 
ground was a little rocky with volcanic fragments, the mountain appearing 
to be composed of such rock. The timber consists principally of nut pines, 
{pinus monophyllus,) which here are of larger size — 12 to 15 inches in 
diameter ; heaps of cones lying on the ground, where the Indians have 
gathered the seeds. 

The snow deepened gradually as we advanced. Our guides wore out 
their moccasins; and, puttingone of them on a horse, we enjoyed the unusual 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 207 

sight of an Indian who could not ride. He could not even guide the ani- 
mal, and appeared to have no knovrledge of horses. The snow was three 
or four feet deep in the summit of the pass; and from this point the guide 
pointed out our future road, declining to go any further. Below us was a 
little valley ; and beyond this, the mountains rose higher still, one ridge 
above another, presenting a rude and rocky outline. We descended rap- 
idly to the valley ; the snow impeded us but little ; yet it was dark when 
we reached the foot of the mountain. 

The day had been so warm, that our moccasins were w^ with melting 
snow ; but here, as soon as the sun begins to decline, the air gets suddenly 
cold, and we had great difliculty to keep our feet from (reezing — our moc- 
casins being frozen perfectly stiff. After a hard day's march of 27 miles, 
we reached the river some time after dark, and found the snow about a foot 
deep on the bottom — the river being entirely frozen over. We found 
a comfortable camp, where there were dry willows abundant, and we soon 
had blazing fires. A little brandy, which I husbanded with great care, 
remained, and I do not know any medicine more salutary, or any drink 
(except coffee) more agreeable, than this in a cold night after a hard day's 
march. Mr. Preuss questioned whether the famed nectar even possessed 
so exquisite a flavor. All felt it to be a reviving cordial. 

The next morning, when the sun had not yet risen over the mountains, 
the thermometer was 2° below zero ; but the sky was bright and pure, and 
the weather changed rapidly into a pleasant day of summer. I remained 
encamped, in order to examine the country, and allow the animals a day 
of rest, the grass being good and abundant under the snow. 

The river is fifty to eighty feet wide, with a lively current, and very 
clear water. It forked a little above our camp, one of its branches com- 
ing directly from the south. At its head appeared to be a handsome 
pass; and from the neighboring heights we could see, beyond, a compara- 
tively low and open country^ v.hich was supposed to form the valley of the 
Buenaventura. The other branch issued from a nearer pass, in a direction 
S. 75° W., forking at the foot of the mountain, and receiving part of its 
waters from a little lake. I was in advance of the camp when our last 
guides had left us; but, so far as could be understood, this was the pass 
which they had indicated, and, in company with Carson, to-day I set out 
to explore it. Entering the range, we continued in a northwesterly direc- 
tion up the valley, which here bent to the right. It was a pretty, open bot- 
tom, locked between lofty mountains, which supplied frequent streams as 
we advanced. On the lower part they were covered with nut-pine trees, 
and above with masses of pine, which we easily recognised, from the darker 
color of the foliage. From the fresh trails which occurred frequently during 
the morning, deer appeared to be remarkably numerous in the mountain. 
We had now entirely left the desert country, and were on the verge of 
a region which, extending westward to the shores of the Pacific, abounds 
in large game, and is covered with a singular luxuriance of vegetable life. 
The little stream grew rapidly smaller, and in about twelve miles we 
had reached its head, the last water coming immediately out of the moun- 
tain on the right ; and this spot was selected for our next encampment. 
The grass showed well in sunny places ; but in colder situations the snow 
was deep, and began to occur in banks, through which the horses found 
some difficulty in breaking a way. 

To the left, the open valley continued in a southwesterly direction, with 



20S CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

a scarcely perceptible ascent, forming a beautiful pass ; the exploration of 
which we deferred until the next day, and returned to the camp. 

To-day an Indian passed through the valley, on his way -nto the moun- 
tains, where he showed us was his lodge. We comprehended nothing of 
his language; and, though he appeared to have no fear, passing along in 
full view of the camp, he was indisposed to hold any communication with 
us, but showed the way he was going, and pointed for us to go on our road. 

By observation, the latitude of this encampment was 38° 18' 01", and 
the elevation above the sea 6,310 feet. 

January 27. — Leaving the camp to follow slowly, with directions to 
Carson to encamp at the place agreed on, Mr. Fitzpatrick and myself con- 
tinued the reconnoissance. Arriving at the head of the stream, we began 
to enter the pass — passing occasionally through open groves of large pine 
trees, on the warm side of the defile, where the snow had melted away, 
occasionally exposing a large Indian trail. Continuing along a narrow 
meadow, we reached in a few miles the gate of the pass, where there was 
a narrow strip of prairie, about fifty yards wide, between walls of granite 
rock. On either side rose the mountains, forming on the left a rugged 
mass, or nucleus, wholly covered with deep snow, presenting a glittering 
and icy surface. At the time, we supposed this to be the point into which 
they weie gathered between the two great rivers, and from which the 
waters flowed off to the bay. This was the icy and cold side of the pass, 
and the rays of the sun hardly touched the snow. On the left, tiie moun- 
tains rose into peaks; but they were lower and secondary, and the country 
had a somewhat more open and lighter character. On the right were sev- 
eral hot springs, which appeared remarkable in such a place. In going 
through, we felt impressed by the majesty of the mountain, along the huge 
wall of which we v/ere riding. Here there was no snow ; but immedi- 
ately beyond was a deep bank, through which we d/agged our horses with 
considerable effort. We then immediately struck upon a stream, which 
o-athered itself rapidly, and descended quick; and the valley did not pre- 
serve the open character of the other side, appearing below to form a 
canon. We therefore climbed one of the peaks on the right, leaving our 
horses below; but we were so much shut up, that we did not obtain an 
extensive view, and what we saw was not very satisfactory, and awakened 
considerable doubt. The valley of the stream pursued a northwesterly 
direction, appearing below to turn sharply to the right, beyond which fur- 
ther view was cut off. It was, nevertheless, resolved to continue our road 
the next day down this valley, which we trusted still would prove that of 
the middle stream between the two great rivers. Towards the summit of 
this peak, the fields of snow were four or five feet deep on the northern 
side ; and we saw several large hares, which had on their winter color, 
being white as the snow around them. 

The winter day is short in the mountains, the sun having but a small 
space of sky to travel over in the visible part above our horizon ; and the 
moment his rays are gone, the air is keenly cold. The interest of our 
work had detained us long, and it was after nightfall when we reached 
the camp. 

January 28. — To-day we went through the pass with all the camp, and, 
after a hard day's journey of twelve miles, encamped on a high point where 
the snow had been blown off. and the exposed grass afforded a scanty pas- 
ture for the animals. Snow and broken country together made our travel- 



1844.1 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 209 

■ling difficult : we were often compelled to make large circuits, and ascend 
the highest and most exposed ridges, in order to avoid snow, which in 
other places was banked up to a great depth. 

During the day a few Indians were seen circling around us on snow- 
shoes, and skimming along like birds ; but we could not bring them with- 
in speaking distance. Godey, who was a little distance from the camp, had 
sat down to tie his moccasins, when he heard a low whistle near, and, look- 
ing up, saw two Indians half hiding behind a rock about forty yards distant ; 
they would not allow him to approach, but, breaking into a laugh, skimmed 
off over the snow, seeming to have no idea of the power of fire arms, and 
•thinking themselves perfectly safe when beyond arm's length. 

To-night we did not succeed in getting the howitzer into camp. This 
was the most laborious day we had yet passed through ; the steep ascents 
■and deep snow exhausting both men and animals. Our single chronometer 
had stopped during the day, and its error in time occasioned the loss of an 
eclipse of a satellite this evening. It had not preserved the rate with 
which we started from the Dalles, and this will account for the absence 
of longitudes along this interval of our journey. 

January 29. — From this height we could see, at a considerable distance 
below, yellow spots in the valley, which indicated that there was not much 
snow. One of these places we expected to reach to-night ; and some time 
■being required to bring up the gun, I went ahead with Mr. Fitzpatrickand 
a few men, leaving the camp to follow, in charge of Mr. Preuss. We fol- 
lowed a trail down a hollow^ where the Indians had descended, the snow 
being so deep that we never came near the ground ; but this only made our 
descent the easier, and, when we reached a little affluent to the river at the 
bottom, we suddenly found ourselves in presence of eight or ten Indians. 
They seemed to be watching our motions, and, like the others, at first were 
indisposed to let us approach, ranging themselves like birds on a fallen 
log on the hill side above our heads, where, being out of reach, they 
thought themselves safe. Our friendly demeanor reconciled them, and, 
when we got near enough, they immediately stretched out to us handfulls 
of pine nuts, which seemed an exercise of hospitality. We made them a 
few presents, and, telling us that their village was a few miles below, they 
went on to let their people know what we were. The principal stream 
«till running through an impracticable canon, we ascended a very steep hill, 
which proved afterwards the last and fatal obstacle to our little howitzer, 
which was finally abandoned at this place. We passed through a small 
meadow a few miles below, crossing the river, which depth, swift current, 
and rock, made it ditficult to ford ; and, after a few more miles of very dif- 
ficult trail, issued into a larger prairie bottom, at the farther end of which 
we encamped, in a position rendered strong by rocks and trees. The lower 
parts of the mountain were covered with the nut pine. Several Indians 
appeared on the hill side, reconnoitring the camp, and were induced to 
come in ; others came in during the afternoon ; and in the evening we held 
a council. The Indians immediately made it clear that the waters on which 
we were also belong to the Great Basin, in the edge of which we had 
been since the 17th of December; and it became evident that w^e had still 
the great ridge on the left to cross before we could reach the Pacific waters. 

We explained to the Indians that we were endeavoring to find a passage 
across the mountains into the country of the whites, whom we were going 
to see ; and told them that we wished them to bring us a guide, to whom we 
14 



210 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

would give presents of scarlet cloth, and other articles, which were shown 
to them. They looked at the reward we offered, and conferred with each 
other, but pointed to the snow on the mountain, and drew their hands 
across their neckSj and raised them above their heads, to show the depth ; 
and signified that it was impossible for us to get through. They made 
signs that we must go to the southward, over a pass through a lower range, 
which they pointed out ; there, they said, at the end of one day's travel, we 
would find people who lived near a pass in the great mountain ; and to that 
point they engaged to furnish us a guide. They appeared to have a con- 
fused idea, from report, of whites who lived on the other side of the moun- 
tain ; and once, they told us, about two years ago, a party of twelve men 
like ourselves had ascended their river, and crossed to the other waters. 
They pointed out to us where they had crossed ; but then, they said, it 
was summer time ; but now it would be impossible. I believe that this 
was a party led by Mr. Chiles, one of the only two )iien whom 1 know to 
have passed through the California mountains from the interior of the Ba 
gin — Walker being the other ; and both were engaged upwards of twenty 
days, in the summer time, in getting over. Chiles's destination was the bay 
of San Francisco, to which he descended by the Stanislaus rivet ; and Walk- 
er subsequently informed me that, like myself, descending to the southward 
on a more eastern line, day after day he was searching for the Buenaven- 
tura, thinking that he had found it with every new stream, until, like me, 
he abandoned all idea of its existence, and, turning abruptly to the right, 
crossed the great ciiain. These were both western men, animated with 
the spirit of exploratory enterprise which chaiacterizes that people. 

The Indians brought in during the evening an abundant supply of pine 
nuts, which we traded from them. When roasted, their pleasant flavor 
made them an agreeable addition to our now scanty store of provisions, 
which were reduced to a very low ebb. Our principal stock was in peas, 
which it is not necessary to say contain scarcely any nutriment. We had 
still a little flour left, some coffee, and a quantity of sugar, which I re- 
served as a defence against starvation. 

The Indians informed us that at certain seasons they have fish in their 
waters, which we supposed to be salmon trout ; for the remainder of the 
year they live upon the pine nuts, which form their great winter subsist- 
ence — a portion being always at hand, shut up in the natural storehouse 
of the cones. At present, they were presented to us as a whole people 
living upon this simple vegetable. 

The other division of the party did not come in to-night, but encamped 
in the upper meadow, and arrived the next morning. They had not suc- 
ceeded in getting the howitzer beyond the place mentioned, and where it 
had been left by Mr. Preuss in obedience to my orders ; and, in anticipation 
of the snow banks and snow fields still ahead, foreseeing the inevitable de- 
tention to which it would subject us, I reluctantly determined to leave it 
there for the time. It was of the kind invented by the French for the 
mountain part of their war in Algiers ; and the distance it had come with 
us proved how well it was adapted to its purpose. We left it, to the great 
sorrow of the whole party, who were grieved to part with a companion 
which had made the whole distance from St. Louis, and commanded re- 
spect for us on some critical occasions, and which might be needed for the 
same purpose again. 

January SO.-^Our guide, who was a young man, joined us this morn- 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 211 

ing ; and, leavingour encampment late in the day, we descended the river, 
which immediately opened out into a broad valley, furnishing good travel- 
ling ground. In a short distance we passed the village, a collection of 
straw huts; and a few miles below, the guide pointed out the place where 
the whites had been encamped before ihey entered the mountain. With 
our late start we made but ten miles, and encamped on the low river bot- 
tom, where there was no snow, but a great deal of ice ; and we cut piles of 
long grass to lay under our blankets, and fires were made of large dry wil- 
lows, groves oi which wooded the stream. The river took here a north- 
easterly direction, and through a spur from the mountains on the left was 
the gap where we were to pass the next day. 

January 31 . — We took our way over a gently rising ground, the dividing 
ridge being tolerably low ; and travelling easily along a broad trail, in 
twelve or fourteen miles reached the upper part of the pass, when it began 
to snow thickly, with very cold weather. The Indians had only the 
usual scanty covering, and appeared to suffer greatly from the cold. All 
left us, except our guide. Half hidden by the storm, the mountains looked 
dreary ; and, as night began to approach, the guide showed great reluctance 
to go forward. I placed him between two rifles, for the way began to be 
difficult. Travelling a little farther, we struck a ravine, which the Indian 
said would conduct us to the river ; and as the poor fellow suffered greatly, 
shivering in the snow which fell upon his naked skin, I would not detain 
him any longer ; and he ran off to the mountain, where he said there was 
a hut near by. He had kept the blue and scarlet cloth I had given him 
tighly rolled up, preferring rather to endure the cold than to get them wet. 
in the course of the afternoon, one of the men had his foot frostbitten; 
and about dark we had the satisfaction to reach the bottoms of a stream 
timbered with large trees, among which we found a sheltered camp, with an 
abundance of such grass as the season afforded for the animals. We saw 
before us, in descending from the pass, a great continuous range, along which 
stretched the valley of the river ; the lower parts steep, and dark with pines, 
while above it was hidden in cloudsof snow. This we felt instantly satis- 
fied was the central ridge of the Sierra Nevada, the great California moun- 
tain, which only now intervened between us and the waters of the bay. We 
had made a forced march of 26 miles, and three mules had given out on 
the road. Up to this point, with the exception of two stolen by Indians, 
we had lost none of the horses which had been brought from the Columbia 
river, and a number of these were still strong and in tolerably good order. 
W^e had now G7 animals in the band. 

We had scarcely lighted our fires, when the camp was crowded with 
nearly naked Indians; some of them were furnished with long nets in ad- 
dition to bows, and appeared to have been out on the sage hills to hunt 
rabbits. These nets were perhaps 30 to 40 feet long, kept upright in the 
ground by slight sticks at intervals, and were made from a kind of wild 
hemp, very much resembling in manufacture those common among the 
Indians of the Sacramento valley. They came among us without any 
fear, and scattered themselves about the fires, mainly occupied in gratifying 
their astonishment. I was struck by the singular, appearance of a row of 
about a dozen, who were sitting on their haunches perched on a log near 
one of the fires, with tlieir quick sharp eyes following every motion. 

We gathered together a few of the most intelligent of the Indians, and 
held this evening an interesting council. I explained to them my inter.- 



312 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

tions. I told them that we had come from a very far country, having been 
travelling now nearly a year, and that we were desirous simply to go across 
the mountain into the country of the other whites. There were two who 
appeared particularly intelligent — one, a somewhat old man. He told me 
that, before the snows fell, it was six sleeps to the place where the whites 
lived, but that now it was impossible to cross the mountain on account of 
the deep snow; and showing us, as the others had done, that it was over 
-our heads, he urged us strongly to follow the course of the river, which he 
said would conduct us to a lake in which there were many large fish. 
There, he said, were many people ; there was no snow on (he ground ; 
and we might remain there until the spring. From their descriptions, we 
were enabled to judge that we had encamped on the upper water of the 
Salmon Trout river. It is hardly necessary to say that our communication 
was only by signs, as we understood nothing of their language ; but they 
spoke, notwithstanding, rapidly and vehemently, explaining what they con- 
sidered the folly of our intentions, and urging us to go down to the lake. 
Tah-ve^ a word signifying snow, we very soon learned to know, from its 
frequent repetition. I told him that the men and the horses were strong, 
and that we would break a road through the snow ; and spreading be- 
fore him our bales of scarlet cloth, and trinkets, showed him what we 
would give for a guide. Il was necessary to obtain one, if possible ; for I 
'had determined here to attempt the passage of the mountain. Pulling a 
bunch of grass from the ground, after a short discussion among themselves, 
the old man made us comprehend, that if we could break through the snow, 
at the end of three days we would come down upon grass, which he 
showed us would be about six inches high, and where the ground was en- 
tirely free. So far, he said, he had been in hunting for elk ; but beyond that, 
(and he closed his eyes) he had seen nothing; but there was one among 
them who had been to the whites, and, going out of the lodge, he returned 
with a young man of very intelh'gent appearance. Here, said he, is a 
young man who has seen the whites with his own eyes ; and he swore, 
first by the sky, and then by the ground, that what he said was true. With 
a large present of goods, we prevailed upon this young man to be our 
guide, and he acquired among us the name Mclo — a word signifying friend, 
•which they used very frequently. He was thinly clad, and nearly barefoot ; 
his moccasins being about worn out. VVe gave him skins to make a new 
pair, and to enable him to perform his undertaking to us. The Indians re- 
mained in the camp during the night, and we kept the guide and two others 
to sleep in the lodge with us — Carson lying across the door, and having 
made them comprehend the use of our fue arms. The snow, which had 
intermitted in the evening, commenced falling again in the course of the 
night, and it snowed steadily all day. In the morning I acquainted the 
men with my decision, and explained to them that necessity required us to 
make a great effort to clear the mountains. I reminded them of the beau- 
tiful valley of the Sacramento, with which they were familiar from the de- 
scriptions of Carson, who had been there some fifteen years ago, and who, 
in our late privations, had delighted us in speaking of its rich pastures and 
abounding game, and drew a vivid contrast between its summer climate, 
less than a hundred miles distant, and the falling snow around us. I in- 
formed them (and long experience had given th.em confidence in my ob- 
servations and good instruments) that almost directly west, and only about 
70 miles distant, was the great farming establishment of Captain Sutter — a 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 213 

gentleman who had formerly lived in Missouri, and, emigrating to this 
country, had become the possessor of a principality. I assured them that, 
from the heights of the mountain before us, we should doubtless see the 
valley of the Sacramento river, and with one effort place ourselves again 
in the midst of plenty. The people received this decision with the cheer- 
ful obedience which had always characterized them ; and the day was im- 
mediately devoted to the preparations necessary to enable us to carry it into 
effect. Leggings, moccasins, clothini? — all were put into the best state to 
resist the cold. Our guide was not neglected. Extremity of suflering 
might make him desert ; we therefore did the best we could for him. Leg- 
gings, moccasins, some articles of clothing, and a large green blanket, in 
addition to the blue and scarlet cloth, were lavished upon him, and to his 
great and evident contentment. He arrayed himself in all his colors ; and, 
clad in green, blue, and scarlet, he made a gay-looking Indian ; and, with 
his various presents, was probably richer and better clothed than any of 
his tribe had ever been before. 

I have already said that our provisions weie very low; we had neither 
tallow nor grease of any kind remaining, and the want of salt became one 
of our greatest privations. The poor dog which had been found in the 
Bear river valley, and which had been a compagnon de voyage ever since, 
had now become fat, and the mess to which it belonged requested permis- 
sion to kill it. Leave uas granted. Spread out on the snow, the meat 
looked very good ; and it made a strengthening meal for the greater part 
of the camp. Indians brought in two or three rabbits during the day^ 
which were purchased from them. 

The river was 40 to 70 feet wide, and now entirely frozen over. It was 
wooded with large cottonwood, willow, and grain de boeuf. By observa- 
tion, the latitude of this encampment was 38'^ 37' 18". 

February 2. — It had ceased snowing, and this morning the lower air 
was clear and frosty ; and six or seven thousand feet above, the peaks oF 
the Sierra now and then appeared among the rolling clouds, which were 
rapidly dispersing before the sun. Our Indian shook his head as he pointed 
to the icy pinnacles, shooting high up into the sky, and seeming almost im- 
mediately above us. Crossing the river on the ice, and leaving it imme- 
diately, we commenced the ascent of the mountain along the valley of a 
tributary stream. The people were unusually silent ; for every man knew 
that our enterprise was hazardous, and the issue doubtful. 

The snow deepened rapidly, and it soon became necessary to break a road. 
For this service, a party of ten was formed, mounted on the strongest 
horses ; each man in succession opening the road on foot, or on horseback, 
until himself and his horse became fatigued, when he steppel aside ; and, 
the remaining number passing ahead, he took his station in the rear. Leav- 
ing this stream, and pursuing a very direct course, we passed over an inter- 
vening ridge to the river we had left. On the way we passed two low 
huts entirely covered with snow, which might very easily have escaped 
observation. A family was living in each ; and the only trail I saw in the 
neighborhood was from the door hole to a nut-pine tree near, which sup- 
plied them w ith food and fuel. We found two similar huts on the creek 
where we next arrived ; and, travelling a little higher up, encamped on its 
banks in about four feet depth of snow. Carson found near, an open hill 
side, where the wind and the sun had melted the snow, leaving exposed 
suflScient bunch grass for the animals to-night. 



214 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844 

The nut pines were now giving way to heavy timber, and there were 
some immense pines on the bottom, around the roots of which the sun had 
melted away the snow ; and here we made our camps and built huge fires. 
To-day we had travelled sixteen miles, and our elevation above the sea 
was 6,760 feet. 

February 3. — Turning our faces directly towards the main chain, we as- 
cended an open hollow along a small tributary to the river, which, accord- 
ing to the Indians, issues from a mountain to the south. The snow was 
so deep in the hollow, that we were obliged to travel along the steep hill 
sides, and over spurs, where wind and sun had in places lessened the 
snow, and where the grass, which appeared to be in good quality along the 
sides of the mountains, was exposed. We opened our road in the same 
way as yesterday, but made only seven miles; and encamped by some 
springs at the foot of a high and steep hill, by which the hollow ascended 
to another basin in the mountain. The little stream below was entirely 
buried in snow. The springs were shaded by the boughs of a lofty cedar, 
which here made its first appearance; the usual height was 120 to 130 
feet, and one that was measured near by was 6 feet in diameter. 

There being no grass exposed here, the horses were sent back to that 
which we had seen a few miles below. VVe occupied the remainder of the 
day in beating down a road to the foot of the hill, a mile or two distant ; 
the snow being beaten down when moist, in the warm part of the day, and 
then hard frozen at night, made a foundation that would bear the weight 
of the animals the next morning. During the day several Indians joined 
us on snow shoes. These were made of a circular hoop, about a foot in 
diameter, the interior space being filled with an open network of bark. 

February 4. — I went ahead eaily with two or three men, each with a 
led horse, to break the road. We were obliged to abandon the hollow en- 
tirely, and work along the mountain side, which was very steep, and the 
snow covered with an icy crust. We cut a footing as we advanced, and 
trampled a road through for the animals ; but occasionally one plunged out- 
side th*e trail, and slided along the field to the bottom, a hundred yards be- 
low. Late in the day we reached another bench in the hollow, where, in 
summer, the stream passed over a small precipice. Here was a short dis- 
tance of dividing ground between the two ridges, and beyond an open ba- 
sin, some ten miles across, whose bottom presented a field of snow. At 
the further or western side rose the middle crest of the mountain, a dark- 
looking ridge of volcanic rock. 

The summit line presented a range of naked peaks, apparently destitute 
of snow and vegetation ; but below, the face of the whole country was 
covered with timber of extraordinary size. 

Towards a pass which the guide indicated here, we attempted in the af- 
ternoon to force a road; but after a laborious plunging through two or 
three hundred yards, our best horses gave out, entirely refusing to make 
any further effort ; and, for the time, we were brought to a stand. The 
guide informed us that we were entering the deep snow, and here began 
the diHiculties of the mountain ; and to him, and almost to all, our enter- 
prise seemed hopeless. I returned a short distance back, to the break in 
the hollow, where I met Mr. Fitzpatrick. 

The camp had been all the day occupied in endeavoiing to ascend the 
hill, but only the best horses had succeeded. The animals, generally, not 



1S44.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 215 

having sufficient strength to bring themselves up without the packs ; and 
all the line of road between this and the springs was strewed with camp 
stores and equipage, and liorses floundering in snow. I therefore imme- 
diately encamped on the ground with my own mess, which was in ad- 
vance, and directed Mr. Fitzpatrick to encamp at the springs, and send all 
the animals, in charge of Tabeau, with a strong guard, back to the place 
where they had been pastured the night before. Here was a small spot 
of level ground, protected on one side by the mountain, and on the other 
sheltered by a little ridge of rock. It was an open grove of pines, which 
assimilated in size to the grandeur of the mountain, being frequently six 
feet in diameter. 

To-night we had no shelter, but we made a large fne around the trunk 
of one of the huge pines ; and covering the snow with small boughs, on 
which we spread our blankets, soon made ourselves comfortable. The ' 
night was very bright and clear, though the thermometer was only at 10'. 
A strong wind, which sprang up at sundown, made it intensely cold ; and 
this was one of the bitterest nights during the journey. 

Two Indians joined our party here; and one of them, an old man, im- 
mediately began to harangue us, saying that ourselves and animals would 
perish in the snow; and that if we would go back, he would show us an- 
other and a better way across the mountain. He spoke in a very loud 
voice, and there was a singular repetition of phrases and arrangement of 
words, which rendered his speech striking, and not unmusical. 

We had now begun to understand some words, and, with the aid of signs, 
easily comprehended the old man's simple ideas. " Rock upon rock — rock 
upon rock — snow upon snow — snow upon snow," said he ; " even if you 
get over the snow, you will not be able to get down from the mountains." 
He made us the sign of precipices, and showed us how the feet of the 
horses would slip, and throw them ofT from the narrow trails which led 
along their sides. Our Chinook, who comprehended even more readily 
than ourselves, and believed our situation hopeless, covered his head with 
his blanket, and began to weep and lament. " I wanted to see the whites," 
said he; "I came away from my own people to see the. whites, and I 
wouldn't care to die among them ; but here" — and he looked around into 
the cold night and gloomy forest, and,, drawing his blanket over his head, 
began again to lament. 

Seated around the tree, the fire illuminating the rocks and the tall bolls 
of the pines round about, and the old Indian haranguing, we presented a 
group of very serious faces. 

February 5. — The night had been too cold to sleep, and we were up 
very early. Our guide was standing by the fire with all his finery on; 
and seeing him shiver in the cold, I threw on his shoulders one of ray 
blankets. We missed him a few minutes afterwards, and never saw him. 
again. He had deserted. His bad faith and treachery were in perfect 
keeping with the estimate of Indian character, which a long intercourse 
with this people had gradually forced upon my mind. 

While a poition of the camp were occupied in bringing up the baggage 
to this point, the remainder were busied in making sledges and snow shoes. 
I had determined to explore the mountain ahead, and the sledges were to 
be used in transporting the baggage. 

The mountains here consisted wholly of a white micaceous granite. 



216 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

The day was perfectly clear, and, while the sun was in the sky, warm 
and pleasant. 

By observation, our latitude was 38° 42' 26"; and elevation, by the- 
bcriling point, 7,400 feet. 

February 6. — Accompanied by Mr. Fitzpatrick, I sat out to-day with a 
reconnoitring party, on snow shoes. We marched all in single file, tramp- 
ling the snow as heavily as we could. Crossing the open basin, in a march 
of about ten miles we reached the top of one of the peaks, to the left of 
the pass indicated by our guide. Far below us, dimmed by the distance, 
was a large snowless valley, bounded on the western side, at the distance 
of about a hundred miles, by a low range of mountains, which Carson? 
recognised with delight as the mountains bordering the coast. " There," 
said he, "is the little mountain — it is 15 years ago since I saw it; but I 
am just a§ sure as if I had seen it yesterday." Between us, then, and this 
low coast range, was the valley of the Sacramento ; and no one who had 
not accompanied us through the incidents of our life for the last few months 
could realize the delight with which at last we looked down upon it. At 
the distance of apparently 30 miles beyond us were distinguished spots of 
prairie; and a dark line, which could be traced with the glass, was im- 
agined to be the course of the river ; but Ave were evidently at a great 
height above the valley, and between us and the plains extended mites 
of snowy fields and broken ridges of pine-covered mountains. 

It was late in the day when we turned towards the camp ; and it grew 
rapidly cold as it drew towards night. One of the men became fatigued, 
and his feet began to freeze, and, building a fire in the trunk of a dry old 
cedar, Mr. Fitzpatrick remained with him until his clothes could be dried, 
and he was in a condition to come on. After a day's march of 20 miles, 
we straggled into camp, one after another, at night fall; the greater num- 
ber excessively fatigued, only two of the party having ever travelled on 
snow shoes before. 

All our energies were now directed to getting our animals across the 
snow ; and it was supposed that, after all the baggage had been drawn witb 
the sleighs over the trail we had made, it would be sufiiciently hard to= 
bear our animals. At several places, between this point and the ridge, we 
had discovered some grassy spots, where the wind and sun had dispersed 
the snow from the sides of the hills, and these were to form resting places 
to support the animals for a night in their passage across. On our way 
across, we had set on fire several broken stumps, and dried trees, to melt 
holes in the snow for the camps. Its general depth was 5 feet; but we 
passed over places where it was 20 feet deep, as shown by the trees. 

With one party drawing sleighs loaded with baggage, I advanced to-day 
about four miles along the trail, and encamped at the first grassy spot, where 
we expected to bring our horses. Mr. Fitzpatrick, with another party, re- 
mained behind, to form an intermediate station between us and the animals. 
February 8. — The night has been extremely cold ; but perfectly still,^ 
and beautifully clear. Before the sun appeared this morning, the ther- 
mometer was 3° below zero ; 1° higher, when his rays struck the lofty 
peaks; and 0° when they reached our camp. 

Scenery and weather, combined, must render these mountains beautiful 
in summer; the purity and deep-blue color of the sky are singularly beau- 
tiful; the days are sunny and bright, and even warm in the noon hours; 
and if we could be free from the many anxieties that oppress us, even now 



1S44.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 217 

we would be delighted here ; but our provisions are getting fearfully scant. 
Sleighs arrived with baggage about 10 o'clock ; and leaving a portion of it 
here, we continued on for a mile and a halt", and encamped at the foot of 
a long hill on this side of the open bottom. 

Bernier and Godey, who yesterday morning had been sent to ascend a 
higher peak, got in, hungry and fatigued. They confirmed what we had 
already seen. Two other sleighs arrived in the afternoon ; and the men 
being fatigued, I gave them all tea and sugar. Snow clouds began to rise 
in the SSVV. ; and, apprehensive of a storm, which would destroy our 
road, I sent the people back to Mr. Fitzpatrick, with directions to send 
for the animals in the morning. With me remained Mr. Preuss, Mr. Tal- 
bot, and Carson, with Jacob. 

Elevation of the camp, by the boiling point, is 7,920 feet. 

February 9. — During the night the weather changed, the wind rising to 
a gale, and commencing to snow before daylight ; before morning the trail 
was covered. We remained quiet in camp all day, in the course of which 
the weather improved. Four sleighs arrived toward evening, with the 
bedding of the men. We suffer much from the want of salt; and all the 
men are becoming weak from insufficient food. 

February 10. — Taplin was sent back with a few men to assist Mr. Fitz- 
patrick ; and continuing on with three sleighs carrying a part of the bag- 
gage, we had the satisfaction to encamp within two and a half miles of the 
head of the hollow, and at the foot of the last mountain ridge. Here two 
large trees had been set on fire, and in the holes, where the snow had been 
melted away, we found a comfortable camp. 

The wind kept the air filled with snow during the day ; the sky was very 
dark in the southwest, though elsewhere very clear. The forest here has 
a noble appearance: the tall cedar is abundant; its greatest height being 
130 feet, and circumference 20, three or four feet above the ground ; and 
here 1 see for the first time the white pine, of which there are some mag- 
nificent trees. Hemlock spruce is among the timber, occasionally as large 
as 8 feet in diameter four feet above the ground; but, in ascending, it 
tapers rapidly to less than one loot at the height of SO feet. 1 have not 
seen any higher than 130 feet, and the slight upper part is frequently 
broken off by the wind. The white spruce is frequent ; and the red pine, 
{pinus Colorado of the Mexicans,) which constitutes the beautiful f^orest 
along the flanks of the Sierra Nevada to the northward, is here the prin- 
cipal tree, not attaining a greater height than 140 feet, though with some- 
times a diameter of 10. Most of these trees appeared to ditfer slightly 
from those of the same kind on the other side of the continent. 

The elevation of the camp, by the boiling point, is 8,050 feet. We are 
now 1,000 feet above the level of the South Pass in the Rocky mountains ; 
and still we are not done ascending. The top of a flat ridge near was bare 
of snow, and very well sprinkled with bunch grass, sufficient to pasture the 
animals two or three days; and this was to be their main point of support. 
This ridge is composed of a compact trap, or basalt, of a columnar struc- 
ture ; over the surface are scattered large boulders of porous trap. The hills 
are in many places entirely covered with small fragments of volcanic rock. 

Putting on our snow shoes, Ave spent the afternoon in exploring a road 
ahead. The glare of the snow, combined with great fatigue, had rendered 
many of the people nearly blind ; but we were fortunate in having some 
black silk handkerchiefs, which, worn as veils, very much relieved the eye. 



2 IS C APT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

Febi'uaryW. — High wind continued, and our trail this morning was 
nearly invisible — here and there indicated by a little ridge of snow. Our 
situation became tiresome and dreary, requiring a strong exercise of pa- 
tience and resolution. 

In the evening I received a message from Mr. Fitzpatrick, acquainting 
me with the utter failure of his attempt to get our mules and horses over 
the snow — the half-hidden trail had proved entirely too slight to support 
them, and they had broken through, and were plunging about or lying half 
buried in snow. He was occupied in endeavoring to get them back to 
his camp; and in the mean time sent to me for further instructions. I 
wrote to him to send the animals immediately back to their old pastures; 
and, after having made mauls and shovels, turn in all the strength of his 
party to open and beat a road through the snow, strengthening it with 
branches and boughs of the pines. 

February 12. — We made mauls, and worked hard at our end of the 
road all the day. The wind was high, but the sun bright, and the snow 
thawing. We worked down the face of the hill, to meet the people at 
the other end. Towards sundown it began to grow cold, and we shoul- 
dered our mauls, and trudged back to camp. 

February 13. — We continued to labor on the road ; and in the course 
of the day had the satisfaction to see the people working down the face of 
the opposite hill, about three miles distant. During the morning we had 
the pleasure of a visit from IMr. Fitzpatrick, with the information that all 
was going on well. A party of Indians had passed on show shoes, who 
said they were going to the western side of the mountain after fish. This 
was an indication that the salmon were coming up the streams ; and we 
could hardly restrain our impatience as we thought of them, and worked 
with increased vigor. 

The meat train did not arrive this evening, and I gave Godey leave to 
kill our little dog, (Tlamath,) which he prepared in Indian fashion ; scorch- 
ing off the hair, and washing the skin with soap and snow, and then cut- 
ting it up into pieces, which were laid on the snow. Shortly afterwards, 
the sleigh arrived with a supply of horse meat ; and we had to-night an 
extraordinary dinner — pea soup, mule, and dog. 

February 14. — The dividing ridge of the Sierra is in sight from this 
encampment. Accompanied by Mr. Preuss, 1 ascended to-day the high- 
est peak to the right ; from which we had a beautiful view of a mountain 
lake at our feet, about fifteen miles in length, and so entirely surrounded 
by mountains that we could not discover an outlet. We had taken with 
us a glass ; but, though we enjoyed an extended view, the valley was half 
hidden in mist, as when we had seen it before. Snow could be distin- 
guished on the higher parts of the coast mountains ; eastward, as far as the 
eye could extend, it ranged over a terrible mass of broken snowy moun- 
tains, fading off blue in the distance. The rock composing the summit con- 
sists of a very coarse dark volcanic conglomerate ; the lower parts appeared 
to be of a slaty structure. The highest trees were a few scattering cedars 
and aspens. From the immediate foot of the peak, we were tw^o hours in 
reaching the summit, and one hour and a quarter in descending. The day 
had been very bright, still, and clear, and spring seems to be advancing 
rapidly. While the sun is in the sky, the snow melts rapidly, and gushing 
springs cover the face of the mountain in all the exposed places ; but their 
surface freezes instantly with the disappearance of the sun. 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 219 

I obtained to-night some observations ; and the result from these, and oth- 
ers made during our stay, gives for the latitude 3S° 41' 57", longitude 120° 
25' 57", and rate of the chronometer 25". 82. 

Fehnmry 16. — We had succeeded in getting our animals safely to the 
first grassy hill ; and this morning I started with Jacob on a reconnoitring 
expedition beyond the mountain. We travelled along the crests of narrow 
ridges, extending down from the mountain in the direction of the valley, 
from which the snow was fast melting away. On the open spots was tol- 
erably good grass; and I judged we should succeed in getting the camp 
down by way of these. Towards sundown we discovered some icy spots 
in a deep hollow ; and, descending the mountain, we encamped on the head 
water of a little creek, where at last the water found its way to the Pacific. 

The night was clear and very long. We heard the cries of some wild 
animals, which had been attracted by our fire, and a flock of geese passed 
over during the night. Even these strange sounds had something pleasant 
to our senses in this region of silence and desolation. 

We started again early in the morning. The creek acquired a regular 
breadth of about 20 feet, and we soon began to hear the rushing of the water 
below the ice surface, over which we travelled to avoid the snow ; a few 
miles below we broke through, where the water was several feet deep, and 
halted to make a fire and dry our clothes. We continued a few miles 
farther, walking being very laborious without snow shoes. 

I was now perfectly satisfied that we had struck the stream on which 
Mr. Sutter lived ; and, turning about, made a hard push, and reached the 
camp at dark. Here we had the pleasure to find all the remaining animals, 
57 in number, safely arrived at the grassy hill near the camp ; and here, 
also, we were agreeably surprised with the sight of an abundance of salt. 
Some of the horse guard had gone to a neighboring hut for pine nuts, and 
discovered unexpectedly a large cakeof very white fine-grained salt, which 
the Indians told them they had brought from the other side of the moun- 
tain ; they used it to eat with their pine nuts, and readily sold it for goods. 

On the 19th, the people were occupied in making a road and bringing up 
the baggage ; and, on the afternoon of the next day, February 20, 1844, we 
encamped with the animals and all the mt/^eneZ of the camp, on the summit 
of the Pass in the dividing ridge, 1,000 miles by our travelled road from 
the Dalles of the Columbia. 

The people, who had not yet been to this point, climbed the neighboring 
peak to enjoy a look at the valley. 

The temperature of boiling water gave for the elevation of the encamp- 
ment 9,338 feet above the sea. 

This was 2,000 feet higher than the South Pass in the Rocky mountains, 
and several peaks in view rose several thousand feel still higher. Thus, at 
the extremity of the continent, and near the coast, the phenomenon was 
seen of a range of mountains still higher than the great Rocky mountains 
themselves. This extraordi-nary fact accounts for the Great Basin, and 
shows that there must be a system of small lakes and rivers here scattered 
over a flat country, and which the extended and lofty range of the Sierra 
Ts^evada prevents from escaping to the Pacific ocean. Latitude 38*^ 44'; 
longitude 120° 28'. 

Thus this Pass in the Sierra Nevada, which so well deserves its name 
of Snowy mountain, is eleven degrees west and about four degrees south 
of the South Pass. 



220 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

February 21. — We now considered ourselves victorious over the moun- 
tain ; having only the descent before us, and the valley under our eyes, we 
felt strong hope that we should force our way down. But this was a case 
in which the descent was not facile. Still deep fields of snow lay between, 
and there was a large intervening space of rough-looking mountains, through 
which we had yet to wind our way. Carson roused me this morning with 
an early fire, and we were all up long before day, in order to pass the snow 
fields before the sun should render the crust soft. We enjoyed this morn- 
ing a scene, at sunrise, which even here was unusually glorious and beauti- 
ful. Immediately above the eastern mountains was repeated a cloud-formed 
mass of purple ranges, bordered with bright yellow gold ; the peaks shot 
up into a narrow line of crimson cloud, above which the air was filled with 
a greenish orange ; and over all was the singular beauty of the blue sky. 
Passing along a ridge which commanded the lake on our right, of which 
we began to discover an outlet through a chasm on the west, we passed 
over alternating open ground and hard-crusted snow fields which support- 
ed the animals, and encamped on the ridge after a journey of 6 miles. The 
grass was better than we had yet seen, and we were encamped in a clump 
of trees twenty or thirty feet high, resembling white pine. With the excep- 
tion of these small clumps, the ridges were bare ; and, where the snow found 
the support of the trees, the wind had blown it up into banks ten or fifteen 
feet high. It required much care to hunt out a practicable way, as the 
most open places frequently led to impassable banks. 

We had hard and doubtful labor yet before us, as the snow appeared to 
be heavier where the timber began further down, with few open spots. 
Ascending a height, we traced out the best line we could discover for the 
next day's'march, and had at least the consolation to see that the mountain 
descended rapidly. The day had been one of April ; gusty, with a few oc- 
casional flakes of snow; which, in the afternoon, enveloped the upper 
mountain in clouds. We watched them anxiously, as now we dreaded a 
snow storm. Shortly afterwards we heard the roll of thunder, and, looking 
towards the valley, found it all enveloped in a thunder storm. For us, as 
connected with the idea of summer, it had a singular charm ; and we watch- 
ed its progress with excited feelings until nearly sunset, when the sky clear- 
ed off brightly, and we saw a shining line of water directing its course to- 
wards another, a broader and larger sheet. We knew that these could be 
no other than the Sacramento and the bay of San Francisco ; but, after our 
long wandering in rugged mountains, where so hequently we had met with 
disappointments, and where the crossing of every ridge displayed some un- 
known lake or river, we were yet almost afiaid to believe that Ave were at 
last to escape into the genial country of which we had heard so many 
glowing descriptions, and dreaded again to find some vast interior lake, 
whose bitter waters would bring us disappointment. On the southern shore 
of what appeared to be the bay could be traced the gleaming line where 
entered another large stream ; and again the Buenaventura rose up in our 
minds. 

Carson had entered the valley along the southern side of the bay, and re- 
membered perfectly to have crossed the mouth of a very large stream, 
which they had been obliged to raft ; but the country then was so entirely 
covered with water from snow and rain, that he had been able to form no 
correct impression of watercourses. 

We had the satisfaction to know that at least there were people below. 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 221 

Fires were lit up in the valley just at night, appearing to be in answer to 
ours ; and these signs of life renewed, in some measure, the gayety of the 
carap. They appeared so near, that we judged them to be among the tim- 
ber of some of the neighboring ridges ; but, having them constantly in view 
day after day, and night after night, we afterwards found them to be fires 
that had been kindled by the Indians among the tulares, on the shore of 
the bay, 80 miles distant. 

Among the very few plants that appeared here, was the common blue 
flax. To-night, a mule was killed for food. 

February 22. — Our breakfast was over long before day. VV'e took ad- 
vantage of the coolness of the early morning to get over the snow, which 
to-day occurred in very deep banks among the timber ; but we searched 
out the coldest places, and the animals passed successfully with their loads 
the hard crust. Now and then, the delay of making a road occasioned 
much labor and loss of time. In the after part of the day, we saw before 
us a handsome grassy ridge point; and, making a desperate push over a 
snow field 10 to 15 feet deep, we happily succeeded in getting the camp 
across ; and encamped on the ridge, after a march of three miles. VVe had 
again the prospect of a thunder storm below ; and to-night we killed another 
mule — now our only resource from starvation. 

VVe satisfied ourselves during the day that the lake had an outlet be- 
tween two ranges on the right ; and with this, the creek on which I had 
encamped probably effected a junction below. Between these, we were 
descending. 

We continued to enjoy the same delightful weather ; the sky of the same 
beautiful blue, and such a sunset and sunrise as on our Atlantic coast we 
could scarcely imagine. And here among the mountains, 9,000 feet ab*ve 
the sea, we have the deep-blue sky and sunny climate of Smyrna and 
Palermo, which a little map before me shows are in the same latitude. 

The elevation above the sea, by the boiling point, is 8,565 feet. 

Februarij 23. — This was our most difficult day : we were forced off the 
ridges by the quantity of snow among the timber, and obliged to take to 
the mountain sides, where, occasionaUy, rocks and a southern exposure af- 
forded us a chance to scramble along. But these were steep, and slippery 
with snow and ice ; and the tough evergreens of the mountain impeded 
our way, tore our skins, and exhausted our patience. Some of us had the 
misfortune to wear moccasins with parJJecke soles, so slippery that we could 
not keep our feet, and generally crawled across the snow beds. Axes and* 
mauls were necessary to-day, to make a road through the snow. Going 
ahead with Carson to reconnoitre the road, we reached in the afternoon the 
river which made ihe outlet of the lake. Carson sprang over, clear across 
a place where the stream was compressed among rocks, but the parfleche 
sole of my moccasin glanced from the icy rock, and precipitated me into the 
river. It was some few seconds before I could recover myself in the cur- 
rent, and Carson, thinking mc hurt, jumped in after me, and we both had 
an icy bath. VVe tried to search a while for my gun, which had been lost 
in the fall, but the cold drove us out ; and making a large fire on the bank, 
after we had partially dried ourselves we went back to meet the carap. 
We afterwards found that the gun had been slung under the ice which 
lined the banks of the creek. 

Using our old plan of breaking the road with alternate horses, we reached 
the creek in the evening, and encamped on a dry open place in the ravine. 



232 CAPT. FREMO>fT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

Another branch, which we had followed, here comes in on the left ; and 
from this point the mountain wall, on which we had travelled to-day, faces 
to the south along the light bank of the river, where the sun appears to 
have melted the snow ; but the opposite ridge is entirely covered. Here, 
among the pines, the hill side produces but little grass — barely sufficient 
to keep life in the animals. We had the pleasure to be rained upon this 
afternoon ; and grass was now our greatest solicitude. Many of the men 
looked badly ; and some this evening were giving out. 

February 24. — We rose at three in the morning, for an astronomical ob- 
servation, and obtained for the place a latitude of 38*^ 46' 58" ; longitude 
120° 34' 20". The sky was clear and pure, with a sharp wind from the 
northeastj and the thermometer 2° below the freezing point. 

We continued down the south face of the mountain ; our road leading 
over dry ground, we were able to avoid the snow almost entirely. In the 
course of the morning, we struck a foot path, which we were generally able 
to keep ; and the ground was soft to our animals' feet, being sandy or cover- 
ed with mould. Green grass began to make its appearance, and occasion- 
ally we passed a hill scatteringly covered with it. The character of the 
forest continued the same; and, among the trees, the pine with sharp 
leaves and very large cones was abundant, some of them being noble trees. 
We measured one that had 10 feet diameter, though the height was not 
more than 130 feet. All along, the river was a roaring torrent, its fall 
very great; and, descending with a rapidity to which we had long been 
strangers, to our great pleasure oak trees appeared on the ridge, and soon 
became very frequent ; on these I remaiked unusually great quantities of 
mistletoe. Rushes began to make their appearance ; and at a small creek 
wiiere they were abundant, one of the messes was left with the weakest 
horses, while we continued on. 

The opposite mountain side was very steep and continuous — unbroken 
by ravines, and covered with pines and snow ; while on the side we were 
travelling, innumerable rivulets poured down from the ridge. Continuing 
on, we halted a moment at one of these rivulets, to admiie some beautiful 
evergreen trees, lesembling live oak, which shaded the little stream. They 
were forty to hfty (eei high, and two in diameter, with a uniform tufted top; 
and the sununer green of their beautiful foliage, with the singing birds, and 
ihe sweet summer wind which was whirling about the dry oak leaves, 
nearly intoxicated us with delight ; and we hurried on, filled with excite- 
ment, to escape entirely from the horrid region of inhospitable snow, to the 
perpetual spring of the Sacramento. 

When we had travelled about ten miles, the valley opened a little to an 
oak and pine bottom, through which ran rivulets closely bordered with 
3 ushes, on which our half-starved horses fell with avidity ; and here we 
made our encampment. Here the roaring torrent has already become a 
river, and we had descended to an elevation of 3,864 feet. 

Along our road to-day the rock was a white granite, which appears to 
constitute the upper part of the mountains on both the eastern and western 
slopes; while between, the central is a volcanic rock. 
Another horse was killed to-night, lor food. 

Fehruarx) 25. — Believing that the difficulties of the road were passed, 
and leaving Mr. Fitzpatrick to follow slowly, as the condition of the ani- 
mals required, I started ahead this morning with a party of eight, consist- 
ing (with myself) of Mr. Preussand Mr. Talbot, Carson, Derosier, Towns, 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 223 

Proue, and Jacob. We took with us some of the best animals, and my in- 
tention was to proceed as rapidly as possible to the house of Mr. Sutter, 
and return to meet the party with a supply of provisions and fresh animals. 

Continuing down the river, which pursued a very direct westerly course 
through a narrow valley, with only a very slight and narrow bottom land, 
we made twelve miles, and encamped at some old Indian huts, appaiently 
a fishing place on the river. The bottom was covered with trees of de- 
ciduous ibliage, and overgrown with vines and rushes. On a bench of the 
hill near by, was a field of fresh green gi ass, si.\ inches long in some of the 
tufts which I had the curiosity to measure. The animals were driven 
here ; and I spent part of the afternoon sitting on a large rock among 
them, enjoying the pauseless rapidity with which they luxuriated in the 
unaccustomed food. 

The forest was imposing to-day in the magnificence of the trees : some 
of the pines, bearing large cones, were 10 feet in diameter ; cedars also 
abounded, and we measured one 28^ feet in circumference four feet from 
the ground. This noble tree seemed here to be in its proper soil and cli- 
mate. We found it on both sides of the Sierra, but most abundant on the 
west. 

February 2G. — W^e continued to follow the stream, the mountains on 
either hand increasing in height as we descended, and shutting up the 
river narrowly in precipices, along which we had great difficulty to get 
our horses. 

It rained heavily during the afternoon, and we were forced ofl^" the river 
to the heights above ; whence we descended, at night-fall, the point of a 
spur between the river and a foik of nearly equal size, coming in from the 
right. Here we saw, on the lower hills, the first flowers in bloom, which 
occurred suddenly, and in considerable quantity ; one of them a species of 
gilia. 

The current in both streams (rather torrents than rivers) was broken by 
large boulders. It was late, and the animals fatigued ; and not succeeding 
to find a ford immediately, we encamped, although the hill side afforded 
but a few stray bunches of grass, and the horses, standing about in the 
rain, looked very miserable. 

February 27. — We succeeded in fording the stream, and made a trail by 
which we crossed the point of the o|)posite hill, which, on the southern 
exposure, was prettily covered with green grass, and we halted a mile from 
our last encampment. The river was only about sixty feet wide, but rapid, 
and occasionally deep, foaming among boulders, and the water beautifully 
clear. We encamped on the hill slope, as there was no bottom level, and 
ihe opposite ridge is continuous, affording no streams. 

We had with us a large kettle ; and a mule being killed here, his head 
was boiled in it for several hours, and made a passable soup for famished 
people. 

Below, precipices on the river forced us to the heights, which we as- 
cended by a steep spur 2,000 feet high. My favorite horse, Proveau, had 
become very weak, and was scarcely able to bring himself to the top. Trav- 
elling here was good, except in crossing the ravines, which were narrow, 
steep, and frequent. We caught a glimpse of a deer, the first animal we 
had seen ; but did not succeed in approaching him. Proveau could not 
keep up, and I left Jacob to bring him on, being obliged to press forward 
with the party, as there was no grass in the forest. We grew very anxious 
£S the day advanced and no ^rass appeared, for the lives of our animals 



224 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

depended on finding it to-night. They were in just such a condition that 
grass and repose for the night enabled them to get on the next day. Every 
hour we had been expecting to see open out before us the valley, which, from 
the mountain above, seemed almost at our feet. A new and singular shrub, 
which had made its appearance since crossing the mountain, was very fre- 
quent to-day. It branched out near the ground, forming a clump eight to 
ten feet high, with pale-green leaves of an oval form , and the body and 
branches had a naked appearance, as if stripped of the bark, which is very 
smooth and thin, of a chocolate color, contrasting well with the pale green 
of the leaves. The day was nearly gone ; we had made a hard day's march, 
and found no grass. Towns became light-headed, wandering off into the 
woods without knowing where he was going, and Jacob brought hira back. 

Near night-fall we descended into the steep ravine of a handsome creek 
thirty feet wide, and I was engaged in getting the horses up the opposite 
hill, when I heard a shout from Carson, who had gone ahead a few hun- 
dred yards — "Life yet," said he, as he came up, " lile yet ; I have found a 
hill side sprinkled with grass enough for the night." We drove along our 
horses, and encamped at the place about dark, and there was just room 
enough to make a place for shelter on the edge of the stream. Three 
horses were lost to-day — Proveau ; a fine young horse from the Columbia, 
belonging to Charles Towns; and another Indian horse which carried our 
cooking utensils ; the two former gave out, and the latter strayed off into 
the woods as we reached the camp. 

February 29. — We lay shut up in the narrow ravine, and gave the ani- 
mals a necessary day ; and men were sent back after the others. Derosier 
volunteered to bring up Proveau, to whom he knew I was greatly attach- 
ed, as he had been my favorite horse on both expeditions. Carson and I 
climbed one of the nearest mountains ; the forest land still extended ahead, 
and the valley appeared as far as ever. The pack horse was found near 
the camp, but Derosier did not get in. 

March I. — Derosier did not get in during the night, and leaving him to 
follow, as no grass remained here, we continued on over the uplands, cross- 
ing many small streams, and camped again on the river, having made 6 
miles. Here we found the hill side covered (although lightly) with fresh 
green grass ; and from this time forward we found it always improving 
and abundant. 

We made a pleasant camp on the river hill, where were some beautiful 
specimens of the chocolate-colored shrub, which were a foot in diameter 
near the ground, and fifteen to twenty feet high. The opposite ridge runs 
continuously along, unbroken by streams. We are rapidly descending into 
the spring, and we are leaving our snowy region far behind ; every thing is 
getting green ; butterflies are swarming; numerous bugs are creeping out, 
wakened from their winter's sleep ; and the forest flowers are coming into 
bloom. Among those which appeared most numerously to-day was rforfe- 
catheon deniatum. 

We began to be uneasy at Derosier's absence, fearing he might have 
been bewildered in the woods. Charles Towns, who had not yet recovered 
his mind, went to swim in the river, as if it were summer, and the stream 
placid, when it was a cold mountain torrent foaming among locks. We 
were happy to see Derosier appear in the evening. He came in, and, sitting 
down by the fire, began to tell us where he had been. He imagined he 
had been gone several days, and thought we were still at the camp where 



1844.] CAPT. FREMOiNT'S NARRATIVE. 225^ 

he had left us ; and we were pained to see that his mind was deranged. It 
appeared that he had been lost in the mountain, and hunger and fatigue, 
joined to weakness of body, and fear of perishing in the mountains, had 
crazed him. The times were severe when stout men lost their minds from 
extremity of suffering — when horses died — and when mules and horses, 
ready to die of starvation, were killed for food. Yet there was no mur- 
muring or hesitation. 

A short distance below oar encampment, the river mountains terminated 
in precipices, and, after a fatiguing march of only a few miles, we encamped 
on a bench where there were springs and an abundance of the freshest 
grass. In the mean time, Mr. Preuss continued on down the river, and, 
unaware that we had encamped so early in the day, was lost. When night 
arrived, and he did not come in, we began to understand what had hap- 
pened to him ; but it was too late to make any search. 

March 3. — We followed Mr. Preuss's trail for a considerable distance 
along the river, until we reached a place where he had descended to the 
stream below and encamped. Here we shouted and fired guns, but received 
no answer ; and we concluded that he had pushed on down the stream. I 
determined to keep out from the river, along which it was nearly impracti- 
cable to travel with animals, until it should form a valley. At every step 
the country improved in beauty ; the pines were rapidly disappearing, and 
oaks became the principal trees of the forest. Among these, the prevailing 
tree was the evergreen oak, (which, by way of distinction, we shall call the 
live oak ;) and with these, occurred frequently a new species of oak bearing 
a long slender acorn, from an inch to an inch and a half in length, which 
we now began to see formed the principal vegetable food of the inhabitants 
of this region. In a short distance we crossed a little rivulet, where were 
two old huts, and near by were heaps of acorn hulls. The ground round 
about was very rich, covered with an exuberant sward ol grass; and we 
sat down for a while in the shade of the oaks, to let the animals feed. We 
repeated our shouts for Mr. Preuss; and this time we were gratified with 
an answer. The ^'oice grew rapidly nearer, ascending from the river ; but 
when we expected to see him emerge, it ceased entirel}^ . We had called up 
some straggling Indian — the first we had met, although for two days back 
we had seen tracks — who, mistaking us for his fellows, had been only un- 
deceived on getting close up. It would have been pleasant to witness his 
astonishment; he would not have been more frightened had some of the 
old mountain spirits they are so much afraid of suddenly appeared i,n his 
path. Ignorant of the character of these people, we had now an additional 
cause of uneasiness in regard to Mr. Preuss ; he had no arms with him, and 
we began to think his chance doubtful. We followed on a trail, still keep- 
ing out from the river, and descended to a very large creek, dashing with 
great velocity over a pre-eminently rocky bed and among large boulders. 
The bed had sudden breaks, formed by deep holes and ledges of rock run- 
ning across. Even here, it deserves the name of ftocA; creek, which we gave 
to it. We succeeded in fording it, and toiled about three thousand feet up 
the opposite hill. The mountains now were getting sensibly lower; but 
still there is no valley on the river, which presents steep and rocky banks ; 
but here, several miles from the river, the country is smooth and grassy ; 
the forest has no undergrowth; and in the open valleys of rivulets, or arouqd 
spring heads, the low groves of live oak give the appearance of orchards 
in an old cultivated country. Occasionally we met deer, but had not the 
15 



226 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

necessary time for hunting. At one of these orchard grounds, we encamped 
about noon to make an effort for Mr, Preuss. One man took his way along 
a spur leading into the river, in hope to cross his trail ; and another took 
our own back. Both were volunteers ; and to the successful man was prom- 
ised a pair of pistols — not as a reward, but as a token of gratitude for a 
service which would free us all from much anxiety. 

We had among our few animals a horse which was so much reduced, 
that, with travelling, even the good grass could not save him; and, having 
nothing to eat, he was killed this afternoon. He was a good animal, and 
had made the journey round from Fort Hall. 

Dodecaiheon dentatmn continued the characteristic plant in fiower; and 
the naked-looking shrub already mentioned continued characteristic, begin- 
ning to put forth a small white blossom. At evening the men returned, hav- 
ing seen or heard nothing of Mr. Preuss ; and 1 determined to make a 
hard push down the river the next morning, and get ahead of hirii. 

March 4. — We continued rapidly along on a broad plainly-beaten trail, 
the mere travelling and breathing the delightful air being a positive enjoy- 
ment. Our road led along a ridge inclining to the river, and the air and 
the open grounds were fragrant with flowering shrubs ; and in the course 
of the morning we issued on an open spur, by which we descended directly 
to the stream. Here the river issues suddenly from the mountains, which 
hitherto had hemmed it closely in ; these now become softer, and change 
sensibly their character; and at this point commences the most beautiful 
valley in which we had ever travelled. We hurried to the river, on which 
we noticed a small sand beach, to which Mr. Preuss would naturally have 
gone. We found no trace of him, but, instead, were recent tracks of bare- 
footed Indians, and little piles of muscle shells, and old fires where they 
had roasted the fish. We travelled on over the river grounds, which were 
undulating, and covered with grass to the river brink. We halted to noon 
a fe\v miles beyond, always under the shade of the evergreen oaks, which 
formed open groves on the bottoms. 

Continuing our road in the afternoon, we ascended to the uplands, where 
the river passes round a point of great beauty , and goes through very remarka- 
ble dalles, in charat-ter resembling those of the Columbia. Beyond, we again 
descended to the bottoms, where we found an Indian village, consisting of 
two or three huts; we had come upon them suddenly, and the people had 
evidently just run off. The huts were low and slight, made like beehives 
in a picture, five or six feet high, and near each was a crate, formed of in- 
terlaced branches and grass, in size and shape like a very large hogshead. 
Each of these contained from six to nine bushels. These were filled with 
the long acorns already mentioned, and in the huts were several neatly 
made baskets, containing quantities of the acorns roasted. They were sweet 
and agreeably flavored, and we supplied ourselves with about half a bushel, 
leaving one of our shirts, a handkerchief, and some smaller articles, in ex- 
change. The riveragain entered for a space among hills, and we followed 
a trail leading across a bend through a handsome hollow behind. Here, 
while engaged in trying to circumvent a deer, we discovered some Indians 
on a hill several hundred yards ahead, and gave them a shout, to which 
they responded by loud and rapid talking and vehement gesticulation, but 
made no stop, hurrying up the mountain as fast as their legs sould carry 
Hhem. We passed on, and again encamped in a grassy grove. 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 037 

The absence of Mr. Preiiss gave me great concern ; and, for a large re- 
ward, Derosier volunteered to go back on the trail. I directed him to 
search along the river, travelling upwaid for the space of a day and a half, 
at which time 1 expected he would meet Mr. Fitzpatrick, whom I requested 
to aid in the search ; at all events, he was to go no farther, but return to 
this camp, where a cache of provisions was made for him. 

Continuing the next day down the river, we discovered three squaws in 
a little bottom, asd surrounded them before they could make their escape. 
They had large conical baskets, which they were engaged infilling with a 
small leafy plant (erodium cicularium ) jusi now beginning to bloom, and 
covering the ground like a sward of grass. These did not make any 
lamentations, but appeared very much impressed with our appearance, 
speaking to us only in a whisper, and offering us smaller baskets of the 
plant, which they signified to us was good to eat, making signs also that it 
was to be cooked by the fire. We drew out a little cold horse meat, and 
the squaws made signs to us that the men had gone out after deer, and that 
we could have some by waiting till they came in. We observed that the 
horses ate with great avidity the herb which they had been gathering ; and 
here also, for the first time, we saw Indians eat the common grass — one of 
the squaws pulling several tufts, and eating it with apparent relish. See- 
ing our surprise, she pointed to the horses ; but we could not well under- 
stand what she meant, except, perhaps, that what was good for the one was 
good lor the other. 

We encamped in the evening on the shore of the river, at a place where 
the associated beauties of scenery made so strong an impression on us that 
we have given it the name of the Beautiful Camp. The undulating river 
shore was shaded with the live oaks, which formed a continuous grove 
over the country, and the same grassy sviard extended to the edge of the 
water ; and we made our fires near some large granite masses which were 
lying among the trees. We had seen seveial of the acorn caches during the 
day ; and here there were two which were very large, containing each, 
probably, ten bushels. Towards evening we heard a weak shout among 
the hills behind, and had the pleasure to see Mr. Pieuss descending towards 
the camp. Like ourselves, he had travelled to-day 25 miles, but had seen 
nothing of Derosier. Knowing, on the day he was lost, that I was deter- 
mined to keep the river as much as possible, he had not thought it neces- 
sary to follow the trail very closely, but walked on, right and left, cer- 
tain to find it somewhere along the river, searching places to obtain good 
views of the country. Towards sunset he climbed down towards the river 
to look for the camp ; but, finding no trail, concluded that we were behind, 
and walked back until night came on, when, being very much fatigued, he 
collected drift wood and made a large fire among the rocks. The next day 
it became more serious, and he encamped asain alone, thinking that we 
must have taken some other course. To go back would have been mad- 
ness in his weak and starved condition, and onward towards the valley 
was his only hope, always in expectation of reaching it soon. His prin- 
cipal means of subsistence were a few roots, which the hunters call sweet 
onions, having very little taste, but a good deal of nutriment, growing gen- 
erally in rocky ground, and requiring a good deal of labor to get. as he had 
only a pocket knife. Searching for these, he found a nest t f big ants, 
which he let run on his hand, and stripped them off in his mouth ; these 
had an agreeable acid taste. One of his greatest privations was the want 



228 CAPT. FREMOIN'T'S ZS'AKRATIVE. [1844, 

of tobacco ; and a pleasant smoke at evening; would have been a relief 
which only a voyageur could appreciate. He tried the dried leaves of the 
iive oak, knowing that those of other oaks were sometimes used as a sub- 
stitute ; but these were too thick, and would not do. On the 4th he made 
seven or eight miles, walking slowly along the river, avoiding as much as 
possible to climb the hills. In little pools he caught some of the smallest 
kind of frogs, which he swallowed, not so much in the gratilication of hun- 
ger, as in the hope of obtaining some strength. Scattered along the river 
were old fire-places, where the Indians had roasted muscles and acorns; 
but though he searched diligently, he did not there succeed in finding 
either. He had collected fire wood for the night, when he heard at some 
distance from the river the barking of what he thought were two dogs, and 
walked in that direction as quickly as he was able, hoping to find there 
some Indian hut, but met only two wolves ; and, in his disappointment, the 
gloom of the forest was doubled. 

Travelling the next day feebly down the river, he found five or six In- 
dians at the huts of which we have spoken ; some were painting them- 
selves black, and others roasting acorns. Being only one man, they did 
not run ofl", but received him kindly, and gave him a welcome supply of 
roasted acoins. He gave them his pocket knife in return, and stretched 
out his hand to one of the Indians, who did not appear to comprehend the 
motion, but jumped back, as if he thought he was about to lay hold of him. 
They seemed afraid of him, not certain as to what he was. 

Travelling on, he came to the place where we had found the squaws. 
Here he found our fire still burning, and the tracks of the horses. The 
sight gave him sudden hope and courage ; and, following as fast as he 
eould, joined us at evening. 

March 6. — We continued on our road, through the same surpassingly 
beautiful country, entirely unequalled lor the pasturage of stock by any 
thing we had ever seen. Our horses had now become so strong that they 
were able to carry us, and we travelled rapidly — over four miles an hour; 
four of us riding every alternate hour. Every few hundred yards we came 
upon a little band of deer ; but we were too eager to reach the settlement, 
which we momentarily expected to discover, to halt for any other than a pass- 
ing shot. ln>a'few hours we reached a large fork, the northern branch of 
the river, and equal in size to that which we had descended. Together 
they formed a beautiful stream, 60 to 100 yards wide ; which at first, igno- 
rant of the nature of the country through which that river ran, we took 
to be the Sacramento. 

We continued down the right bank of the river, travelling for a while over 
a wooded upland, where we had the delight to discover tracks of cattle. To 
the southwest was visible a black column of smoke, which we had fre- 
quently noticed in descending, arising from the fires we had seen from the 
top of the Sierra. From the upland we descended into broad grovos on 
the river, consisting of the evergreen, and a new species of white oak with 
a large tufted top, and three to six feet in diameter. Among these was no 
brushwood ; and the grassy surface gave to it the appearance of parks in 
an old settled country. Following the tracks of the horses and cattle in 
search of people, we discovered a small village of Indians. Some of these 
had on shirts of civilized manufacture, but were otherwise naked, and we 
could understand nothing from them ; they appeared entirely astonished at 
seeing us. 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 229 

We made an acorn meal at noon, and liurried on; the valley being gay 
with flowers, and some of the banks being absolutely golden with the Cali- 
fornian poppy, [eschscholtzia crocea.) Here the grass was smooth and 
green, and the groves very open ; the large oaks throwing a broad shade 
among sunny spots. Shortly afterwards we gave a shout at the appearance 
on a little bluff of a neatly built adobe house with glass windows. We 
rode up, but, to our disappointment, found only Indians. There was no ap- 
pearance of cultivation, and we could see no cattle, and we supposed the 
place had been abandoned. We now pressed on more eagerly than ever; 
the river swept round in a large bend to the right; the hills lowered down 
entirely ; and, gradually entering a broad valley, we came unexpectedly 
into a large Indian village, where the people looked clean, and wore cotton 
shirts and various other articles of dress. They immediately crowded 
around us, and we had the inexpressible delight to find one who spoke a 
little indifferent Spanish, but who at first confounded us by saying there were 
no whites in the country ; but just then a well-dressed Indian came up, and 
made his salutations in very well spoken Spanish. In answer to our in- 
quiries, he informed us that we were upon the Rio de las Americanos, {the 
river of the Americans,) and that it joined the Sacramento river about 10 
miles below. Never did a name sound more sweetly ! We felt ourselves 
among our countrymen ; for the name of American, in these distant parts, 
is applied to the citizens of the United States. To our eager inquiries he 
answered, 'M am a vaqiiero (cow heid) in the service of Capt. Sutter, and 
the people of this rancheria work for him." Our evident s^itisfaction made 
him communicative; and he went on to say that Capt. Sutter was a very 
rich man, and always glad to see his country people. We asked for his 
house. He answered, that it was just over the hill before us ; and offered, 
if we would wait a moment, to take his horse and conduct us to it. We 
readily accepted his civil offer. In a short distance we came in sight of the 
fort; and, passing on the way the house of a settler on the opposite side, 
(a Mr, Sinclair,) we forded the river; and in a few miles were met a short 
distance from the fort by Capt. Sutter himself. He gave us a most frank 
and cordial reception — conducted us immediately to his residence — and 
under his hospitable roof we had a night of rest, enjoyment, and refresh- 
ment, which none but ourselves could appreciate. But the party left in 
the mountains with IMr. Fitzpatrick were to be attended to ; and the next 
morning, supplied with fresh horses and provisions, I hurried off to meet 
them. On the second day we met, a few miles below the forks of the Rio 
de los Americanos; and a more forlorn and pitiable sight than they present- 
ed cannot well be imagined. They were all on foot — each man, weak and 
emaciated, leading a horse or mule as weak and emaciated as themselves. 
They had experienced great difficulty in descending the mountains, made 
slippery by rains and melting snows, and many horses fell over precipices, 
and were killed ; and with some were lost the packs they carried. Among 
these, was a mule with the plants which we had collected since leaving 
Fort Hall, along a line of 2,000 miles travel. Out of 67 horses and mules 
with which we commenced crossing the Sierra, only 33 reached the valley 
of the Sacramento, and they only in a condition to be led along. Mr. Fitz- 
patrick and his party, travelling more slowly, had been able to make some 
little exertion at hunting, and had killed a few deer. The scanty supply 
was a great relief to them ; for several had been made sick by the strange 
and unwholesome food which the preservation of life compelled thetn to 



230 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844 

use. We stopped and encamped as soon as we met ; and a repast of good 
beef, excellent bread, and delicious salmon, which I had brought along, 
were their first relief from the sufferings of the Sierra, and their first intro- 
duction to the luxuries of the Sacramento. It required all our philosophy 
and forbearance to prevent plenty from becoming as hurtful to us now, as 
scarcity had been before. 

The next day, March 8th, we encamped at the junction of the two riv- 
ers, the Sacramento and Americanos; and thus found the whole party in 
the beautiful valley of the Sacramento. It was a convenient place for the 
camp; and, among other things, was within reach of the wood necessary 
to make the pack saddles, which Ave should need on our long journey 
home, from which we were farther distant now than we were four months 
before, when from the Dalles of the Columbia we so cheerfully took up 
the homeward line of march. 

Captain Sutter emigrated to this country from the western part of Mis- 
souri in 1838-'39, and formed the first settlement in the valley, on a large 
grant of land which he obtained from the Mexican Government. He had, 
at first, some trouble with the Indians ; but, by the occasional exercise of 
well-timed authority, he has succeeded in converting them into a peaceable 
and industrious people. The ditches around his extensive wheat fields; 
the making of the sun-dried bricks, of which his fort is constructed ; the 
ploughing, harrowing, and other agricultural operations, are entirely the 
work of these Indians, for which they receive a very moderate compensa- 
tion — principally in shirts, blankets, and other articles of clothing. In the 
same manner, on application to the chief of a village, he readily obtains as 
many boys and girls as he has any use for. There were at this time a 
number of girls at the fort, in training for a future woollen factory ; but 
they were now all busily engaged in constantly watering the gardens, 
which the unfavorable dryness of the season rendered necessary. The oc- 
casional dryness of some seasons, I understood to be the only complaint of 
the settlers in this fertile valley, as it sometimes renders the crops uncer- 
tain. Mr. Sutter was about making arrangements to irrigate his lands by 
means of the Rio de los Americanos. He had this year sown, and alto- 
gether by Indian labor, thtee hundred fanegas of wheat. 

A few years since, the neighboring Russian establishment of Ross, being 
about to withdraw from the country, sold to him a large number ol' stock, 
with agricultural and other stores, with a number of pieces of artillery and 
other munitions of war ; for these, a regular yearly payment is made in grain. 

The fort is a quadrangular adobe structure, mounting 12 pieces of artil- 
lery, (two of them brass,) and capable of admitting a garrison of a thou- 
sand men ; this, at present, consists of 40 Indians, in uniform — one of 
whom was always found on duty at the gate. As might naturally be ex- 
pected, the pieces are not in very good order. The whites in the em- 
ployment of Capt. Sutter, American, French and German, amount, per- 
haps, to 30 men. The inner wall is formed into buildings comprising the 
common quarters, with blacksmith and other workshops; the dwelling 
house, with a large distillery house, and other buildings, occupying more 
the centre of the area. 

It is built upon a pond-like stream, at times a running creek commuricat- 
ing with the Rio de los Americanos, which enters the Sacramento about two 
miles below. The latter is here a noble river, about three hundred yards 
broad, deep and tranquil, with several fathoms of water in the channel, and 



1S44.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 231 

its banks continuously timbered. There were two vessels belonging to 
Capt. Sutter at anchor near the landing — one a large two-masted lighter, 
and the other a schooner, which was shortly to proceed on a voyage to 
Fort Vancouver for a cargo of goods. 

Since his arrival, several other persons, principally Americans,have es- 
tablished themselves in the valley. Mr. Sinclair, from whom i experienced 
much kindness during my stay, is settled a few miles distant, on the Rio 
de los Americanos. Mr. Coudrois, a gentleman from Germany, has estab- 
lished himself on Feather river, and is associated with Captain Sutter in 
agricultural pursuits. Among other improvements, they are about to in- 
troduce the cultivation of rape seed, {brassica rapus,) which there is every 
reason to believe is admirably adapted to the climate and soil. The lowest 
average pioduce of wheat, as far as we can at present know, is 35 fanegas 
for one sown ; but, as an instance of its fertility, it may be mentioned that 
Senor Valejo obtained, on a piece of ground where sheep had been pas- 
tured, 800 fanegas for eight sown. The produce being different in various 
places, a very correct idea cannot be formed. 

An impetus was given to the active little population by our arrival, as 
we were in want of every thing. Mules, horses, and cattle, were to be col- 
lected ; the horse mill was at work day and night, to make sufficient flour ; 
the blacksmith's shop was put in requisition for horse shoes and bridle 
bitts ; and pack saddles, ropes, and bridles, and all the other little equip- 
ments of the camp, were again to be provided. 

The delay thus occasioned was one of repose and enjoyment, which our 
situation required, and, anxious as we were to resume our homeward jour- 
ney, was regretted by no one. In the mean time, I had the pleasure to meet 
with Mr. Chiles, who was residing at a farm on the other side of the river 
Sacramento, while engaged in the selection of a place for a settlement, for 
which he had received tlie necessary grant of land from the Mexican Gov- 
ernment. 

It will be remembered that we had parted near the frontier of the States, 
and that he had subsequently descended the valley of Lewis's fork, with a 
party of 10 or 12 men, with the intention of crossing the intermediate moun- 
tains to the waters of the bay of San Francisco. In the execution of this 
design, and aided by subsequent information, he left the Columbia at the 
mouth of Malheur river ; and, making his way to the head waters of the 
Sacramento with a part of his company, travelled down that river to the 
settlements of Nueva Helvetia. The other party, to whom he had com- 
mitted his wagons, and mill irons and saws, took a course further to the 
south, and the wagons and their contents were lost. 

On the 22d we made a preparatory move, and encamped near the settle- 
ment of Mr. Sinclair, on the left bank of the Rio de los Americanos. I had 
discharged five of the party : Neal, the blacksmith, (an excellent workman, 
and an unmarried man, who had done his duty faithfully, and had been of 
very great service to me,) desired to remain, as strong inducements were 
offered here to mechanics. Although at considerable inconvenience to my- 
self, his good conduct induced me to comply with his request ; and 1 ob- 
tained lor him, from Captain Sutter, a present compensation of two dollars 
and a half per diem, with a promise that it should beincreased to live, if he 
proved as good a workman as had been represented. He was more par- 
ticularly an agricultural blacksmith. The other men were discharged witK 
their own consent. 



232 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

While we remained at this place, Derosier, one of our best men, whose 
steady good conduct had won my regard, wandered off from the camp, and 
never returned to it again ; nor has he since been heard of. 

March 24. — We resumed our journey with an ample stock of provisions 
and a large cavalcade of animals, consisting of 130 horses and mules, and 
about thirty head of cattle, five of which were milch cows. Mr. Sutter 
furnished us also with an Indian boy, who had been trained as a vaquero, 
and who would be serviceable in managing our cavalcade, great part ol 
which were nearly as wild as buffalo ; and who was, besides, very anxious 
to go along with us. Our direct couise home was east; but the Sierra 
would force us south, above five hundred miles of travelling, to a pass at 
the head of the San Joaquin river. This pass, reported to be good, was 
discovered by Mr. Joseph Walker, of whom I have already spoken, and 
whose name it might therefore appropriately bear. To reach it, our course 
lay along the valley of the San Joaquin — the river on our right, and the lofty 
wall of the impassable Sierra on the left. From that pass we were to move 
southeastwardly, having the Sierra then on the right, and reach the ^'■Spanish 
/rai/," deviously traced from one watering place to another, which constitut- 
ed the route of the caravans from Puebla delos Angeles, near the coast of 
the Pacific, to Santa Fe of New Mexico. From the pass to this trail was 150 
miles. Following that trail through a desert, relieved by some fertile plains 
indicated by the recurrence of the term vegas, until it turned to the right 
to cross the Colorado, our course would be northeast until we regained the 
latitude we had lost in arriving at the Eutah lake, and thence to the Rocky- 
mountains at the head of the Arkansas. This course of travelling, forced 
upon us by the structure of the country, would occupy a computed distance 
of two thousand miles before we reached the head of the Arkansas ; not a 
settlement to be seen upon it; and the names of places along it, all being 
Spanish or Indian, indicated that it had been but little trod by American 
feet. Though long, and not free from hardships, this route presented some 
points of attraction, in tracing the Sierra Nevada — turning the Great Basin, 
perhaps crossing its rim on the south — completely solving the problem of 
any river, except the Colorads, from the Rocky mountains on that part of 
our continent — and seeing the southern extremity of the Great Salt lake, 
of which the northern part had been examined the year before. 

Taking leave of Mr. Sutter, who, with several gentlemen, accompanied us 
a few miles on our way, we travelled about eighteen miles, and encamped on 
the Rio de los Cosunines^ a stream receiving its name from the Indians who 
live in its valley. Our road was through a level country, admirably suited 
to cultivation, and covered with groves of oak trees, principally the ever- 
green oak, and a large oak already mentioned, in form like those of the 
white oak. The weather, which here, at this season, can easily be changed 
from the summer heat of the valley to the frosty mornings and bright days 
nearer the mountains, continued delightful for travellers, but unfavorable 
to the agriculturists, whose crops of wheat began to wear a yellow tinge 
from want of rain. 

March 25. — We travelled for 28 miles over the same delightful country 
as yesterday, and halted in a beautiful bottom at the ford of the Rio delos 
Mukelemnes, receiving its name from another Indian tribe living on the 
river. The bottoms on the stream are broad, rich, and extremely fertile ; 
and the uplands are shaded with oak groves. A showy lupinus of extra- 
ordinary beauty, growing four to five feet in height, and covered with 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 233 

spikes in bloora, adorned the banks of the river, and filled the air with a 
light and grateful perfume. 

On the 26th we halted at the Arroyo de las Calaveras, (Skull creek,) a 
tributary to the San Joaquin — the previous two streams entering the bay 
between the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers. This place is beautiful, 
with open groves of oak, and a grassy sward beneath, with many plants in 
bloom ; some varieties of which seem to love the shade of the trees, and 
grow there in close small fields. Near the river, and replacing the grass, 
are great quantities of ammole, (soap plant,) the leaves of which are used 
in California for making, among other things, mats for saddle cloths. A 
vine with a small white flower, {melothria '/) called here la yerba buena, 
and which, from its abundance, gives name to an island and town in the 
bay, was to-day very frequent on our road — sometimes running on the 
ground or climbing the trees. 

March 27. — To-day we travelled steadily and rapidly up the valley ; for, 
with our wild animals, any other gait was impossible, and making about 
five miles an hour. During the earlier part of the day, our ride had been' 
over a very level prairie, or rather a succession of long stretches of prairie, 
separated by lines and groves of oak timber, growing along dry gullies, 
which are filled with water in seasons of rain ; and, perhaps, also, by the 
melting snows. Over much of this extent, the vegetation was sparse ; the 
surface showing plainly the action of water, which, in the season of flood, 
the Joaquin spreads over the valley. About 1 o'clock we came again 
among innumerable flowers ; and a few miles further, fields of the beautiful 
blue-flovvei ing lupine, which seems to love the neighborhood of water, indi- 
cated that we were approaching a stream. We here found this beautiful 
shrub in thickets, some of them being 12 feet in height. Occasionally three 
or four ])lants were clustered together, forming a grand bouquet, about 90 
feet in circumference, and 10 feet high ; the whole summit covered with 
spikes of flowers, the perfume of which is very sweet and grateful. A lover 
of natural beauty can imagine with what pleasure we rode among these 
flowering groves, which filled the air with a light and delicate fragrance. 
We continued our road for about half a mile, interspersed through an open 
grove of live oaks, which, in form, were the most symmetrical and beautiful 
we had yet seen in this country. The ends of their branches rested on the 
ground, forming somewhat more than a half sphere of very full and regular 
figure, with leaves apparently smaller than usual. 

The Californian poppy, of a rich orange color, was numerous to-day. 
Elk and several bands of antelope made their appearance. 

Our road was now one continued enjoyment ; and it was pleasant, riding 
among this assemblage of green pastures with varied flowers and scattered 
groves, and out of the warm green spring, to look at the rocky and snowy 
peaks where lately we had suffered so much. Emerging from the timber, 
we came suddenly upon the Stanislaus river, where we hoped to find a 
ford, but the stream was flowing by, dark and deep, swollen by the moun- 
tain snows; its general breadth was about 50 yards. 

We travelled about five miles up the river, and encamped without being 
able to find a ford. Here we made a large coral, in order to be able to 
catch a sufficient number of our wild animals to relieve those previously 
packed. 

Under the shade of the oaks, along the river, 1 noticed erodium cicuta- 
rium in bloora, eight or ten inches high. This is the plant which we had 



234 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

seen the squaws gathering; on the Rio de los Americanos. By the inhabit- 
ants of the valley, it is highly esteemed for fattening cattle, which appear 
to be very fond of it. Here, where the soil begins to be sandy, it supplies 
to a considerable extent the want of grass. 

Desirous, as far as possible, without delay, to include in our examination 
the San Joaquin river, I returned this morning down the Stanislaus for 17 
miles, and again encamped without having found a fording place. After 
following it for 8 miles further the next morning, and finding ourselves in 
the vicinity of the San Joaquin, encamped in a handsome oak grove, and, 
several cattle beingkilled, we ferried over our baggage in their skins. Here 
our Indian boy, who probably had not much idea of where he was going, 
and began to be alarmed at the many streams which we were rapidly put- 
ling between him and the village, deserted. 

Thirteen head of cattle took a sudden fright, while we were driving them 
across the river, and galloped off. I remained a day in the endeavor to 
recover them ; but, finding they had taken the trail back to the fort, let them 
go without further effort. Here we had several days of warm and pleasant 
rain, which doubtless saved the crops below. 

On the 1st of April, we made 10 miles across a prairie without timber, 
when we were stopped again bj' another large river, which is called the 
Rio de la Merced^ (river of our Lady of Mercy.) Here the country had 
lost its character of extreme fertility, the soil having become more sandy 
and light ; but, for several days past, its beauty had been increased by the 
additional animation of animal life ; and now, it is crowded with bands of 
elk and wild horses ; and along the rivers are frequent fresh tracks of griz- 
zly bear, which are unusually numerous in this country. 

Our route had been along the timber of the San Joaquin, generally about 
8 miles distant, over a high prairie. 

In one of the bands of elk seen to-day, there were about 200 ; but, the 
larger bands, both of these and wild horses, are generally found on the other 
side of the river, which, for that reason, I avoided crossing. I had been 
informed below, that the droves of wild horses were almost invariably found 
on the western bank of the river ; and the danger of losing our animals 
among them, together with the wish of adding to our reconnoissance the 
numerous streams which run down from the Sierra, decided me to travel 
up the eastern bank. 

April 2. — The day was occupied in building a boat, and ferrying our 
baggage across the river ; and we encamped on the bank. A large fishing 
eagle, with white head and tail, was slowly sailing along, looking after sal- 
mon ; and there were some pretty birds in the timber, with partridges, 
ducks, and geese innumerable in the neighborhood. We were struck with 
the tameness of the latter bird at Helvetia, scattered about in flocks near 
the w^heat fields, and eating grass on the prairie ; a horseman would ride by 
within 30 yards, without disturbing them. 

April 3. — To-day we touched several times the San Joaquin river — here 
a fine-looking tranquil stream, with a slight current, and apparently deep. 
It resembled the Missouri in color, with occasional points of white sand ; 
and its banks, where steep, were a kind of sandy clay ; its average width 
appeared to be about eighty yards. In the bottoms are frequent ponds, 
where our approach disturbed multitudes of wild fowl, principally geese. 
Skirling along the timber, we frequently started elk ; and large bands were 
seen during the day, with antelope and wild horses. The low country and 



1S44.] CAPT. FREiMONTS NARRATIVE. 235 

the timber rendered it difficult to keep the main line of the river; and this 
evening we encamped on a tributary stream, about five miles from its 
mouth. On the prairie bordering the San Joaquin bottoms, there occurred 
during the day but little grass, and in its place was a sparse and dwarf 
growth of plants ; the soil being sandy, w ith small bare places and hillocks, 
reminded me much of the Platte bottoms ; but, on approaching the timber, 
we found a more luxuriant vegetation ; and at our camp was an abundance 
of grass and pea vines. 

The foliage of the oak is getting darker ; and every thing, except that the 
weather is a little cool, shows that spring is rapidly advancing ; and to-day 
we had quite a summer rain. 

April 4. — Commenced to rain at daylight, but cleared off brightly at sun- 
rise. We ferried the river without any difficulty, and continued up the San 
Joaquin. Elk were running in bands over the prairie and in the skirt of 
the timber. VVe reached the river again at the mouth of a large slough, 
which we were unable to ford, and made a circuit of several miles around. 
Here the country appears very flat; oak trees have entirely disappeared, 
and are replaced by a large willow, nearly equal to it in size. The river is 
about a hundred yards in breadth, branching into sloughs, and interspersed 
with islands. At this time it appears sufficiently deep for a small steamer, 
but its navigation would be broken by shallows at low water. Bearing in 
towards the river, we were again forced off by another slough ; and, pass- 
ing aiound, steered towards a clump of trees on the river, and, finding 
there good grass, encamped. The prairies along the left bank are alive 
with immense droves of wild horses ; and they had been seen during the 
day at every opening through the woods which afforded us a view across 
the river. Latitude, by observation, ST"^ 08' 00" ; longitude 120° 45' 22." 

April 5. — During the earlier part of the day's ride, the country presented 
a lacustrine appearance ; the river was deep, and nearly on a level with the 
surrounding country ; its banks raised like a levee, and fringed with wil- 
lows. Over the bordering plain were interspersed spots of prairie among 
fields of tide (bulrushes,) which in this country are called tulares, and lit- 
tle ponds. On the opposite side, a line of timber was visible, which, ac- 
cording to information, points out the course of the slough, which, at times 
of high water, connects with the San Joaquin river — a large body of water in 
the upper part of the valley, called the Tule lakes. The river and all its 
sloughs are very full, and it is probable that the lake is now discharging. 
Here elk were frequently started, and one whs shot out of a band which ran 
around us. On our left, the Sierra maintains its snowy height, and masses 
of snow appear to descend very low towards the plains ; probably the late 
rains in the valley were snow on the mountains. We travelled 37 miles, 
and encamped on the river. Longitude of the camp, 120° 28' 34", and 
latitude 36° 49' 12 ". 

April 6. — After having travelled 15 miles along the river, we made an 
early halt, under the shade of sycamore trees. Here we found the San 
Joaquin coming down from the Sierra with a westerly course, and check- 
ing our way, as all its tributaries had previously done. We had expected 
to ratt the river ; but found a good ford, and encamped on the opposite bank, 
w^here droves of wild horses were raising clouds of dust on the prairie. 
Columns of smoke were visible in the direction of the Tule lakes to the 
southward — probably kindled in the tuhres by the Indians, as signals that 
there were strangers in the valley. 



236 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

We made, on the 7th, a hard march in a cold chilly rain from morning 
until night — the weather so thick that we travelled by compass. This was 
a traverse from the San Joaquin to the vvaters of the Tule lakes, and our 
road was over a very level prairie country. We saw wolves frequenl y 
during the day, prowling about after the young antelope, which cannot run 
very fast. These were numerous during the day, and two were caught by 
the people. 

Late in the afternoon we discovered timber, which was found to be 
groves of oak trees on a dry arroyo. The rain, which had fallen in fre- 
quent showers, poured down in a storm at sunset, with a strong wind, 
which swept off the clouds, and left a clear sky. Riding on through the 
timber, about dark we found abundant water in small ponds, 20 to 30 yards 
in diameter, with clear deep water and sandy beds, bordered with bog 
rushes {j uncus effusus,) and a tall rush {sch'pics lacustris) 12 feet high, 
and sui rounded near the margin with willow trees in bloom ; among them 
one which resembled salix myricoides. The oak of the groves was the 
same already mentioned, with small leaves, in form like those of the white 
oak, and forming, with the evergreen oak, the characteristic trees of the 
valley. 

April 8. — After a ride of two miles through brush and open groves, we 
reached a large stream, called the River of the Lake, resembling in size the 
San Joaquin, and being about 100 yards broad. This is the principal trib- 
utary to the Tule lakes, which collect all the waters in the upper part of 
the valley. While we were searching for a ford, some Indians appeared on 
the opposite bank, and, having discovered that we were not Spanish sol- 
diers, showed us the way to a good ford several miles above. 

The Indians of the Sierra make frequent descents upon the settlements 
west of the Coast Range, which they keep constantly swept of horses ; 
among them are many who are called Christian Indians, being refugees 
from Spanish missions. Several of these incursions occurred while we 
were at Helvetia. Occasionally parties of soldiers follow them across the 
Coast Range, but never enter the Sierra. 

On the opposite side we found some forty or fifty Indians, who had come 
to meet us from the village below. We made them some small presents, 
and invited them to accompany us to our encampment, which, alter about 
three miles through fine oak groves, we made on the river. We made a 
fort, principally on account of our animals. The Indians brought otter 
skins, and several kinds of fish, and bread made of acorns, to trade. Among 
them were several who had come to live among these Indians when the 
missions were broken up, and who spoke Spanish fluently. They informed 
us that they were called by the Spaniards mansitos^ (tame,) in distinction 
from the wilder tribes of the mountains. They, however, think themselves 
very insecure, not knowing at what unforeseen moment the sins of the 
latter may be visited on them. They are dark-skinned, but handsome and 
intelligent Indians, and live principally on acorns and the roots of the tule, 
of which also their huts are made. 

By observation, the latitude of the encampment is 36° 24' 50", and lon- 
gitude 11 9° 41' 40". 

April 9. — For several miles we had very bad travelling over what is 
called rotten ground, in which the horses were frequently up to their knees. 
Making towards a line of timber, we found a small fordable stream, beyond 
which the country improved, and the grass became excellent ; and, crossing 



1844.] CAPT. FREMO-VT'S NARRATIVE. 237 

a number of dry and timber-ed arroyos, we travelled until late tbrough open 
oak groves, and encamped among ;i collection of streams. These were 
running among rushes and willows; and, as usual, flocks of blackbirds 
announced our approach to water. We have here approached considerably 
nearer to the eastern Sierra, which shows very plainly, still covered with 
masses of snow, \\ hich yesterday and to-day has also appeared abundant 
on the Coast Range. 

April 10. — To-day we made another long journey of about forty miles, 
through a country uninteresting and flat, with very little grass and a sandy 
soil, in which several branches we crossed had lost their water. In the 
evening the face of the country became hilly ; and, turning a few miles 
up towards the mountains, we found a good encampment on a pretty stream 
hidden among the hills, and handsomely timbered, principally with large 
cottonwoods, {populus, difTering from any in Michaux's Sylva.) The 
seed vessels of this tree were now just about bursting. 

Several Indians came down the river to see us in the evening : we gave 
them supper, and cautioned them against stealing our horses ; which they 
promised not to attempt. 

April 1 1. — A broad trail along the river here takes out among the hills. 
" Buen camino," (good road,) said one of the Indians, of whom we had 
inquired about the pass; and, following it accordingly, it conducted us beau- 
tifully through a very broken country, by an excellent way, which, other- 
wise, we should have found extremely bad. Taken separately, the hills 
present smooth and graceful outlines, but, together, make bad travelling 
ground. Instead of grass, the whole face of the country is closely covered 
with erodium cicutarium, here only two or three inches high. Its height 
and beauty varied in a remarkable manner with the locality, being, in many 
low places which we parsed during the day, around streams and springs, 
two and three leet in height. The country had now assumed a character 
of aridity ; and the luxuriant green of these little streams, wooded with 
willow, oak, or sycamore, looked very refreshing among the sandy hills. 

In the evening we encamped on a large creek, with abundant water. I 
noticed here in bloom, for the first time since leaving the Arkansas waters, 
the mirabilis Jalapa. 

v^pril 12. — Along our road to-day the country was altogether sandy, and 
vegetation meager. Ephedra occidentalism which we had first seen in the 
neighborhood of the Pyramid lake, made its appearance here, and in the 
course of the day became very abundant, and in large bushes. Towards 
the close of the afternoon, we reached a tolerably large river, which emp- 
ties into a small lake at the head of the valley ; it is about thirty-five yards 
wide, with a stony and gravelly bed, and the swiftest stream we have 
crossed since leaving the bay. The bottoms produced no grass, though 
well timbered with willow and cottonwood ; and, after ascending it for 
several miles, we made a late encampment on a little bottom, with scanty 
grass. In greater part, the vegetation along our road consisted now of 
rare and unusual plants, among which many were entirely new. 

Along the bottoms were thickets consisting of several varieties of shrubs, 
which made here their first appearance ; and among these was Garrya 
elliptica, (Lindley,) a small tree belonging to a very peculiar natural or- 
der, and, in its general appearance, (growing in thickets,) resembling 
willow. It now became common along the streams, frequently supplying 
the place of salix longi/olia. 



238 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

April 13. — The water was low, and a few niiles above we forded the 
river at a rapid, and marched in a southeasterly direction over a less broken 
country. The mountains were now very near, occasionally looming out 
through fog. In a few hourfi we reached the bottom of a creek without 
water, over which the sandy beds were dispersed in many branches. Im- 
mediatefy where we struck it, the timber terminated ; and below, to the 
right, it was a broad bed of dry and bare sands. There were many tracks 
of Indians and horses imprinted in ihe sand, which, with other indications, 
informed us was the creek issuing from the pass, and which we have 
called Pass creek. We ascended a trail for a few miles along the 
creek, and suddenly found a stream of water five feet wide, running with 
a lively current, but losing itself almost immediately. This little stream 
showed plainly the manner in which the mountain waters lose themselves 
in sand at the eastern foot of the Sierra, leaving only a parched desert and 
arid plains beyond. The stream enlarged rapidly, and the timber became 
abundant as we ascended. A new species of pine made its appearance, 
with several kinds of oaks, and a variety of trees ; and the country chang- 
ing its appearance suddenly and entirely, we found ourselves again travel- 
ling among the old orchard-like places. Here we selected a delightful en- 
campment in a handsome green oak hollow, where, among the open bolls 
of the trees, was an abundant sward of grass and pea vines. In the even- 
ing a Christian Indian rode into the camp, well dressed, with long spurs, 
and a sombrero^ and speaking Spanish fluently. It was an unexpected ap- 
parition, and a strange and pleasant sight in this desolate gorge of a moun- 
tain — an Indian face, Spanish costume, jingling spurs, and horse equipped 
after the Spanish manner. He informed me that he belonged to one of the 
Spanish missions to the south, distant two or three days' ride, and that he 
had obtained from the priests leave to spend a few days with his relations 
in the Sierra. Having seen us enter the j?as5, he had come down to visit 
us. lie appeared familiarly acquainted with the country, and gave me 
definite and clear information in regard to the desert region east of the 
mountains. I had entered the pass with a strong disposition to vary my 
route, and to travel directly across towards the Great Salt lake, in the view 
of obtaining some acquaintance with the interior of the Great Basin, while 
pursuing a direct course for the frontier ; but his representation, which de- 
scribed it as an arid and barren desert, that had repulsed by its sterility all 
the attempts of the Indians to penetrate it, determined me for the present 
to relinquish the plan : and, agreeably to bis advice, after crossing the 
Sierra, continue our intended route along its eastern base to the Spanish 
trail. By this route, a party of six Indians, who had come from a great 
river in the eastern part of the desert to trade with his people, had just 
started on their return. He would himself leturn the next day to San 
Fernando; and as our roads would be the same for two days, he offered 
his services to conduct us so far on our way. His offer was gladly accepted. 
The fog, which had somewhat interfered with views in the valley, had en- 
tirely passed off, and left a clear sky. That which had enveloped us m 
the neighborhood of the pass proceeded evidently from fires kindled among 
the tulares by Indians living near the lakes, and which were intended to 
warn those in the mountains that there were strangers in the valley. Our 
position was in latitude 35° 17' 12", and longitude 118° 35' 03". 

^pril 14. — Our guide joined us this morning on the trail; and, arriving 
in a short distance at an open bottom where the creek forked, we continuea 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 239 

up the right-hand branch, which was enriched by a profusion of flowers, 
and handsomely wooded with sycamore, oaks, cottonwood, and willow, with 
other trees, and some shrubby plants. In its long strin«| of balls, this 
sycamore differs from that of the United States, and is the platanus occi- 
dentalis of Hooker — a new species, recently described among the plants 
collected in the voyage of the Sulphur. The cottonwood varied its foliage 
with white tufts, and the feathery seeds were flying plentifully through the 
air. Gooseberries, nearly ripe, were very abundant on the mountain ; and 
as we passed the dividing grounds, which were not very €Kisy to ascertain, 
the air was filled with perfume, as if we were entering a highly cultivated 
garden ; and, instead of green, our pathway and the mountain sides were 
covered with fields of yellow flowers, which here was the prevailing color. 
Our journey to-day was in the midst of an advanced spring, whose green 
and floral beauty oft'ered a delightful contrast to the sandy valley we had 
just left. All the day, snow was in sight on the butt of the mountain, which 
frowned down upon us on the right ; but we beheld it now with feelings 
of pleasant security, as we rode along between green trees and on flowers, 
with humming birds and other feathered friends of the tlaveller enlivening 
the serene spring air. As we reached the summit of this beautiful pass, 
and obtained a view into the eastern country, we saw at once that here 
was the place to take leave of all such pleasant scenes as those around us. 
The distant mountains were now bald rocks again ; and below, the land 
had any color but green. Taking into consideration the nature of the 
Sierra Nevada, we found this pass an excellent one for horses ; and with 
a little labor, or perhaps with a more perfect examination of the localities, 
it might be made sufliciently practicable for wagons. Its latitude and lon- 
gitude may be considered that of our last encampment, only a few miles 
distant. The elevation was not taken — our half-wild cavalcade making it 
too troublesome to halt before night, when once started. 

We here left the waters of the bay of San Francisco, and, though forced 
upon them contrary to my intentions, I cannot regret the necessity which 
occasioned the deviation. It made me. well acquainted with the great 
range of the Sierra Nevada of the Alta California, and showed that this 
broad and elevated snowy ridge was a continuation of the Cascade Range 
of Oregon, betv/een which and the ocean there is still another and a lower 
range, parallel to the former and to the coast, and which may be called the 
Coast Range. It also made me well acquainted with the basin of the San 
Francisco bay, and with the two pretty rivers and their valleys, ( the Sacra- 
mento and San Joaquin,) which are tributary to that bay ; and cleared up 
some points in geography on which error had long prevailed. It had been 
constantly represented, as 1 have already stated, that the bay of San Fran- 
cisco opened far into the interior, by some river coming down from the 
base of the Rocky mountains, and upon which supposed stream the name 
of Rio Buenaventura had been bestowed. Our observations of the Sierra 
Nevada, in the longdistance from the head of the Sacramento to the head 
of the San Joaquin, and of the valley below it, which collects all the waters 
of the San Francisco bay, show that this neither is nor can be the case. 
No rivei from the interior does, or can, cross the Sierra Nevada — itself more 
lofty than the Rocky mountains ; and as to the Buenaventura, the mouth 
of which seen on the coast gave the idea and the name of the reputed great 
river, it is, in fact, a small stream of no consequence, not only below the 
Sierra Nevada, but actually belov/ the Coast Range — taking its rise withiu 



240 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

half a degree of the ocean, running: parallel to it for about two degrees, 
and then falling into the Pacific near Monterey. There is no opening from 
the bay of Sa^ Francisco into the interior of the continent. The two 
rivers which flow into it are comparatively shoit, and not perpendicular 
to the coast, but lateral to it, and having their heads towards Oregon and 
southern California. They open lines of communication north and south, 
and not eastwardly ; and thus this want of interior communication from 
the San Francisco bay, now fully ascertained, gives great additional value 
to the Columbia, which stands alone as the only great river on the Pacific 
slope of our continent which leads from the ocean to the Rocky mountains, 
and opens a line of communication from the sea to the valley of the Mis- 
sissippi. 

Four compaileros joined our guide at the pass ; and two going back at 
noon, the others continued on in company. Descending from the hills, we 
reached a country of fine grass, where the er odium cicutarium finally dis- 
appeared, giving place to an excellent quality of bunch grass. Passing by 
some springs where there was a rich sward of grass among groves of large 
black oak, we rode over a plain on which the guide pointed out a spot 
where a refugee Christian Indian had been killed by a party of soldiers 
which had unexpectedly penetrated into the mountains. Crossing a low 
sierra, and descending a hollow where a spring gushed out, we were struck 
by the sudden appearance of yucca trees, which gave a strange and south- 
ern character to the country, and suited well with the dry and desert re- 
gion we were approaching. Associated with the idea of barren sands, their 
stiff and ungraceful form makes them to the traveller the most repulsive 
tree in the vegetable kingdom. Following the hollow, we shortly came 
upon a creek timbered with large black oak, which yet had not put forth a 
leaf. There was a small rivulet of running water, with good grass. 

April 15. — The Indians who had accompanied the guide returned this 
morning, and I purchased from them a Spanish saddle and long spurs, as 
reminiscences of the time ; and for a few yards of scarlet cloth they gave 
me a horse, which afterwards became food for other Indians. 

We continued a short distance down the creek, in which our guide in- 
formed us that the water very soon disappeared, and turned directly to the 
southward along the foot of the mountain ; the trail on which we rode ap- 
pearing to describe the eastern limit of travel, where water and grass ter- 
minated. Crossing a low spur, which bordered the creek, we descended to 
a kind of plain among the lower spurs; the desert being in full view on 
our left, apparently illimitable. A hot mist lay over it to-day, through 
which it had a white and glistening appearance ; here and there a few dry- 
looking buttes and isolated black ridges rose suddenly upon it. " There," 
said our guide, stretching out his hand towards it, " there are the great 
llanos, ( plains ; ) no hay agua ; no hay zacatc — nada: there is neither water 
nor grass — nothing ; every animal that goes out upon them, dies." It was 
indeed dismal to look upon, and hard to conceive so great a change in so 
short a distance. One might travel the world over, without finding a valley 
more fresh and verdant — more floral and sylvan — more alive with birds 
and animals — more bounteously watered — than we had left in the San Joa- 
quin : here, within a few miles ride, a vast desert plain spread before us, 
from which the boldest traveller turned away in despair. 

Directly in front of us, at some distance to the southward, and running 
out in all easterly direction from the mountains, stretched a sierra, having 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 24X 

at the eastern end (perhaps 50 miles distant) some snowy peaks, on which, 
by the information of otir guide, snow rested all the year. 

Our cavalcade made a strange and grotesque appearance; and it was im- 
possible to avoid reflecting upon our position and composition in this remote 
solitude. Vv ithin two degrees of the Pacific ocean ; already far south of the 
latitude of Monterey ; and still forced on south by a desert on one hand, and 
a mountain range on the other; guided by a civilized Indian, attended by 
two wild ones from the Sierra; a Chinook from the Columbia; and our own 
mixture of American, French, German — all armed; four or five languages 
heard at once; above a hundred horses and mules, half wild; American, 
Spanish, and Indian dresses and equipments intermingled — such was our 
composition. Our march was a sort of procession. Scouts ahead, and on 
the flanks ; a front and rear division ; the pack animals, baggage, and 
horned cattle, in the centre ; and the whole stretciiinga quarter of a mile 
along our dreary path. In this form we journeyed; looking more like we 
belonged to Asia than to the United States of America. 

We continued in a southerly direction across the plain, to wliich,as well 
as to all the country so far as we could see, the yucca trees gave a strange 
and singular character. Several new plants appeared, among which was 
a zygophyllaceous shrub {zygophylluni Califoruicuin, Torr. & Frem.) 
sometimes 10 feet in height; in form, and in the pliancy of its branches, it 
is rather a graceful plant. Its leaves are small, covered with a resinous 
substance; and, particularly when bruised and crushed, exhale a singular 
but very agreeable and refreshing odor. This shrub and the yucca, with 
many varieties of cactus, make the characteristic features in the vegetation 
for a long distance to the eastward. Along the foot of the mountain, 20 
miles to the southward, red stripes of flowers were visible during the morn- 
ing, which we supposed to be variegated sandstones. We rode rapidly dur- 
ing the day, and in the afternoon emerged from Xhe y^icca forest at the foot 
of an outlier of the Sierra before us, and came among the fields of flowers 
we had seen in the morning, which consisted principally of the rich orange- 
colored Californian poppy, mingled with other flowers of brighter tints. 
Reaching the top of the spur, which was covered with fine bunch grass, 
and where the hills were very green, our guide pointed to a small hollow 
in the mountain before us, saying, "t/ este piedra hay agiia.^' He appeared 
to know every nook in the country. We continued our beautiful road, and 
reached a spring in the slope, at the foot of tiie ridge, running in a green 
ravine, among granite boulders; here nightshade, and borders of buck- 
wheat, with their white blossoms around the granite rocks, attracted our 
notice as familiar plants. Several antelopes were seen among the hills, and 
some large hares. Men were sent back this evening in search of a wfld 
mule with a valuable pack, which had managed (as they frequently do) to 
hide itself along the road. 

By observation, the latitude of the camp is 34° 41' 42"; and longitude 
118° 20' 00". The next day the men returned with the mule. 

Jipril 17. — Crossing the ridge by a beautiful pass of hollows, where sev- 
eral deer broke out of the thickets, we emerged at a small salt lake in a 
vallon lying nearly east and west, where a trail from the mission of San 
Buenaventura comes in. The lake is about 1,200 yards in diameter; sur- 
rounded on the margin by a white salty border, which, by the smell, re- 
minded us slightly of Lake Abert. There are some cottonwoods, with willow 
and elder, around the lake; and the water is a little salt, although not en- 
16 



242 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

tirely unfit for drinking. Here we turned directly to the eastward, along 
the trail, which, from being seldom used, is almost imperceptible ; and, 
after travelling a few miles, our guide hailed, and, pointing to the hardly 
visible trail, '■^aqui es cainino^^ said he, "wo se pierde — va siempre.^' He 
pointed out a black biitte on the plain at the foot of the mountain, where 
we would find water to encamp at night ; and, giving him a present of knives 
and scarlet cloth, we shook hands and parted. He bore off south, and in a 
day's ride would arrive at San Fernando, one of several missions in this 
part of California, where the country is so beautiful that it is considered a 
paradise, and the name of its principal town ( Puebla de los Angeles) would 
make it angelic. We continued on through a succession of valleys, and 
came into a most beautiful spot of flower fields: instead of green, the hills 
were purple and orange, with unbroken beds, into which each color was 
separately gathered. A pale straw color, with a bright yellow, the rich red 
orange of the poppy mingled with fields of purple, covered the spot with a 
floral beauty; and, on the border of the sandy deserts, seemed to invite the 
traveller to go no farther. Riding along through the perfumed air, we soon 
after entered a defile overgrown with the ominous artemisia tridentuta, 
which conducted us into a sandy plain covered more or less densely witk 
forests of yucca. 

Having now the snowy ridge on our right, we continued our way towards 
a dark hulte belonging to a low sierra in the plain, and which our guide 
had pointed out for a landmark. Late in the day the familiar growth of 
Cottonwood, a ling of which was visible ahead, indicated our approach to 
a creek, which w^ reached where the water spread out into sands, and a 
httle below sank entirely. Here our guide had intended we should pass 
the night; but there was not a blade of grass, and, hoping to find nearer 
the mountain a little for the night, we turned up the stream. A hundred 
yards above, we found the creek a fine stream, 16 feet wide, with a swift 
current. A dark night overtook us when we reached the hills at the foot 
of the ridge, and we were obliged to encamp without grass; tying up what 
animals we could secure in the darkness, the greater part of the wild ones 
having free range for the night. Here the stream was two feet deep, swift 
and clear, issuing from a neighboring snow peak. A few miles before 
reaching this creek, we had crossed a broad dry river bed, which, nearer 
the hills, the hunters had found a bold and handsome stream. 

April IS. — Some parties were engaged in hunting up the scattered horses, 
and others in searching for grass above ; both were successful, and late in 
the day we encamped among some spring heads of the river, in a hollow 
which was covered with only tolerably good grasses, the lower ground 
being entirely overgrown with large bunches of the coarse stiff grass, 
(carex sitchensis.) 

Our latitude, by observation, was 34° 27' 03"; and longitude 117°13'00". 
Travelling close along the mountain, we followed up, in the afternoon 
of the 19th, another stream, in hopes to find a grass patch like that of the 
previous day, but were deceived; except some scattered bunch grass, there 
was nothing but rock and sand ; and even the fertility of the mountain 
seemed withered by the air of the desert. Among the few trees was the 
nut pine, (pinus monophyllus.) 

Our road the next day was still in an easterly direction along the ridge, 
over very bad travelling ground, broken and confounded with crippled 
trees and shrubs; and, after a difficult march of IS miles, a general shout 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 243 

announced that we had struck the great object of our search — the Spanish 
TRAIL — which here was running directly north. The road itself, and its 
•course, were equally happy discoveries to us. Since the middle of Decem- 
ber we had continually been forced south by monntains and by deserts, and 
now would have to make six degrees of yiorthiiig, to regain the latitude on 
which we wished to cross the Rocky mountains. The course of the road, 
therefore, was what we wanted; and, once more, we felt like going home- 
wards. A road to travel on, and the right course to go, were joyful con- 
solations to us ; and our animals enjoyed the beaten track like ourselves. 
Relieved from the rocks and brush, our wild mules started off at a rapid rate, 
and in 15 miles we reached a considerable river, timbered with cotton wood 
and willow, where we found a bottom of tolerable grass. As the animals 
had suffered a great deal in the last few days, I'remainedhere all next day, 
to allow them the necessary repose ; and it was now necessary, at every 
favorable place, to make a little halt. Between us and the Colorado river we 
were aware that the country was extremely poor in grass, and scarce for 
water, there hemgrnB-xxy Jornada s, (days' journey,) or longstretchesof 40 to 
<60 miles, without water, where the road was marked by bones of animals. 

Although in California we had met with people who had passed over this 
trail, we had been able to obtain no correct information about it ; and the 
greater part of what we had heard was found to be only a tissue of false- 
hoods. The rivers that we found on it were never mentioned, and others, 
particularly described in name and locality, were subsequently seen in an- 
other part of the country. It was described as a tolerably good sandy road, 
with so little rock as scarcely to require the animals to be shod; and we 
found it the roughest and rockiest road we had ever seen in the country, 
and which nearly destroyed our band of fine mules and horses. Many an- 
imals are destroyed on it every year by a disease called the foot evil; and 
•a traveller should never venture on it without having his animals well shod, 
and also carrying extra shoes. 

Latitude 34° 34' 11"; and longitude 117° 15' 00". 

The morning of the 22d was clear and bright, and a snowy peak to the 
southward shone out high and sharply defined. As has been usual since 
we crossed the mountains and descended into the hot plains, we had a gale 
'Of wind. We travelled down the right bank of the stream, over sands 
which are somewhat loose, and have no verdure, but are occupied by va- 
rious sliurbs. A clear bold stream, 60 feet wide, and several feet deep, had 
a strange appearance, running between perfectly naked banks of sand. The 
eye, however, is somewhat relieved by willows, and the beautiful green of 
the sweet cotton woods with which it is well wooded. i\s we followed along 
its course, the river, instead of growing constantly larger, gradually dwin- 
-dled away, as it was absorbed by the sand. We were now careful to take 
the old camping places of the annual Santa Fe caravans, which, luckily for 
us, had not yet made their yearly passage. A drove of several thousand 
horses and mules would entirely have swept away the scanty grass at the 
watering places, and we should have been obliged to leave the road to ob- 
tain subsistence for our animals. After riding 20 miles in a northeasterly 
direction, we found an old encampment, where we halted. 

By observation, the elevation of this encampment is 2,250 feet. 

^pril 23. — The trail followed still along the river, which, in the course 
■of the morning, entirely disappeared. We continued along the dry bed, 
in which, after an interval of about 16 miles, the water reappeared in 



244 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844, 

some low places, well timbered with cottonwood and willow, where was 
another of the customary camping grounds. Here a party of six Indians 
came into camp, poor and hungry, and quite in keeping with the character 
of the country. Their arms were bows of unusual length, and each had 
a large gourd, strengthened with meshes of cord, in which he carried water. 
They proved to be the Mohahve Indians mentioned by our recent guide ; 
and from one of them, who spoke Spanish fluently, I obtained some inter- 
esting information, which I would be glad to introduce here. An account 
of the people inhabiting this region would undoubtedly possess interest for 
the civilized world. Our journey homeward was fruitful in incident; and 
the country through which we travelled, although a desert, afforded much 
to excite the curiosity of the botanist; but limited time, and the rapidly ad- 
vancing season for active operations, oblige me to omit all extended de- 
scriptions, and hurry briefly to the conclusion of this report. 

The Indian who spoke Spanish had been educated for a number of years 
at one of the Spanish missions, and, at the breaking up of those establish- 
ments, had returned to the mountains, where he had been found by a party 
of Mohahve (sometimes called Amuchuhu) Indians, among whom he had 
ever since resided. 

He spoke of the leader of the present party as " Tni amo,''^ (my master.) 
He said they lived upon a large river in the southeast, which the "soldiers 
called the Rio Colorado;" but that, formerly, a portion of them lived upon 
this river, and among the mountains which had bounded the river valley 
to the northward during the day, and that here along the river they had 
raised various kinds of melons. They sometimes came over to trade with 
the Indians of the Sierra, bringing with them blankets and goods manufac- 
tured by the Monquis and other Colorado Indians. They rarely carried 
home horses, on account of the difficulty of getting them across the desert, 
and of guarding them afterwards from the Pa-utah Indians, who inhabit 
the Sierra, at the head of the Rio Virgen, (river of the Virgin.) 

He informed us that, a short distance below, this river finally disappear- 
ed. The two difl"erent portions in which water is found had received from 
the priests two diflerent names; and subsequently I heard it called by the 
Spaniards the Rio de las Jlnimas, but on the map we have called it the 
Mohahve river. 

^ipril 24. — We continued down the stream (or rather its bed) for about 
eight miles, where there was water still in several holes, and encamped. 
The caravans sometimes continue below, to the end of the river, from which 
there is a very long jo7'nada of perhaps sixty miles, without water. Here 
a singular and new species of acacia, with spiral pods or seed vessels, made 
ts first appearance ; becoming henceforward, for a considerable distance, 
a characteristic tree. It was here comparatively large, being about 20 feet 
in height, with a full and spreading top, the lower branches declining to- 
wards the ground. It afterwards occurred of smaller size, frequently in 
groves, and is very fragrant. It has been called by Dr. Torrey spirolobium 
odoratum. The zygophyllaceous shrub had been constantly characteristic 
of the plains along the river; and here, among many new plants, a new 
and very remarkable species of eriogonum {eriogonum injlatum, Torr. & 
Frem.) made its first appearance. 

Our cattle had become so tired and poor by this fatiguing travelling, that 
three of them were killed here, and the meat dried. The Indians had now 
an occasion for a great feast, and were occupied the remainder of the day 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 245 

and all the night in cooking and eating. There was no part of the animal 
for which they did not find some nse, except the bones. In the afternoon 
we were surprised by the sudden appearance in the camp of two Mexi- 
cans — a man and a boy. The name of the man was Andreas Fuentes ; 
and that of the boy, (a handsome lad, 11 years old,) Pablo Hernandez. 
They belonged to a party consisting of six persons, the remaining four 
being the wife of Fuentes, the father and mother of Pablo, and Santiago 
Giacome, a resident of New Mexico. With a cavalcade of about thirty 
horses, they had come out from Puebia de los Angeles, near the coast, 
under the guidance of Giacome, in advance of the great caravan, in order 
to travel more at leisure, and obtain better grass. Having advanced as 
far into the desert as was considered consistent with their safety, they halted 
at the Jirchilette, one of the customary camping grounds, about 80 miles 
from our encampment, where there is a spring of good water, with suffi- 
cient grass ; and concluded to await there the arrival of the great caravan. 
Several Indians were soon discovered lurking about the camp, who, in a 
day or two after, came in, and, after behaving in a very friendly manner, 
took their leave, without awakening any suspicions. Their deportment 
begat a security which proved fatal. In a few days afterwards, suddenly 
a party of about one hundred Indians appeared in sight, advancing to- 
wards the camp. It was too late, or they seemed not to have presence of 
mind to take proper measures of safety ; and the Indians charged down into 
their camp, shouting as they advanced, and discharging flights of arrows. 
Pablo and Fuentes were on horse guard at the time, and mounted, accord- 
ing to the custom of the country. One of the principal objects of the In- 
dians was to get possession of the horses, and part of them immediately 
surrounded the band; but, in obedience to the shouts of Giacome, Fuentes 
drove the animals over and through the assailants, in spite of their arrows ; 
and, abandoning the rest to their fate, carried them off at speed across the 
plain. Knowing that they would be pursued by the Indians, without 
making any halt except to shift their saddles to other horses, they drove them 
on for about sixty miles, and this nwrning left them at a watering place on 
the trail, called Aguade Tomaso. Without giving themselves any time for 
rest, they hurried on, hoping to meet the Spanish caravan, when they discov- 
ered my camp. 1 received them kindly, taking them into my own mess, and 
promised them such aid as circumstances might put it in my power to give. 

Jipril 25. — We left the river abruptly, and, turning to the north, regained 
in a few miles the main trail, (which had left the river sooner than our- 
selves,) and continued our way across a lower ridge of the mountain, 
through a miserable tract of sand and gravel. We crossed at intervals the 
broad beds of dry gullies, where in the season of rains and melting snows 
there would be brooks or rivulets ; and at one of these, where there was 
no indication of water, were several freshly-dug holes, in which there was 
water at the depth of two feet. These holes had been dug by the wolves, 
whose keen sense of smell had scented the water under the dry sand. 
They were nice little wells, narrow, and dug straight down, and we got 
pleasant water out of them. 

The country had now assumed the character of an elevated and "ip-oun- 
tainous desert ; its general features being black, rocky ridges, bald, and 
destitute of timber, with sandy basins between. Where the sides of these 
ridges are washed by gullies, the plains belew are strewed with beds of 
large pebbles or rolled stones, destructive to our soft-footed animals, accus- 



246 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

tomed to the grassy plains of the Sacramento valley. Through these 
sandy basins sometimes struggled a scanty stream, or occurred a hole of 
water, which furnished camping grounds for travellers. Frequently in our 
journey across, snow was visible on the surrounding mountains ; but their 
waters rarely reached the sandy plain below, where we toiled along, op- 
pressed with thirst and a burning sun. But, throughout this nakedness 
of sand and gravel, were many beautiful plants and flowering shrubs^ 
which occurred in many new species, and with greater variety than we 
had been accustomed to see in the most luxuriant prairie countries ; this 
was a peculiarity of this desert. Even where no grass would take root, 
the naked sand would bloom with some rich and rare flower, which fojund 
its appropriate home in the arid and barren spot. 

Scattered over the plain, and tolerably abundant, was a handsome legu- 
minous shrub, three or four feet high, with fine bright-purple flowers. It 
is a new psoralen, and occurred frequently henceforward along our road. 

Beyond the first ridge, our road bore a little to the east of north, to- 
wards a gap in a higher line of mountains ; and, after travelhng about 
twenty-five miles, we arrived at the Jigua de Tomaso — the spring where 
the horses had been left ; but, as we expected, they were gone. A brief 
examination of the ground convinced us that they had been driven off" by 
the Indians. Carson and Godey volunteered with the Mexican to pursue 
them; and, well mounted, the three set off" on the trail. At this stopping 
place there were a few bushes and very little grass. Its water was a poolf 
but near by was a spring, which had been dug out by Indians or travel- 
lers. Its water was cool — a great refreshment to us under a burning sun. 

In the evening Fuentes returned, his horse having failed ; but Carson 
and Godey had continued the pursuit. 

I observed to-night an occultation of a^ Cancri, at the dark limb of the 
moon, which gives for the longitude of the place 116° 23' 28" ; the lati- 
tude, by observation, is 35° 13' 08". From Helvetia to this place, the po- 
sitions along the intervening line are laid down with the longitudes ob- 
tained from the chronometer, which appears to have retained its rate re- 
markably well ; but henceforward, to the end of the journey, the few lon- 
gitudes given are absolute, depending upon a subsequent occultation and 
eclipses of the satellites. 

In the afternoon of the next day, a war-whoop was heard, such as In- 
dians make when returning from a victorious enterprise ; and soon Carson 
and Godey appeared, driving before them a band of horses, recognised by 
Fuentes to be part of those they had lost. Two bloody scalps, dangling 
from the end of Godey's gun, announced that they had overtaken the In- 
dians as well as the horses. They informed us, that after Fuentes left them, 
from the failure of his horse, they continued the pursuit alone, and towards 
nightfall entered the mountains, into which the trail led. After sunset the 
moon gave light, and they followed the trail by moonshine until late in the 
night, when it entered a narrow defile, and was difficult to follow. Afraid 
of losing it in the darkness of the defile, they tied up their horses, struck no 
fire, and lay down to sleep in silence and in darkness. Here they lay from 
midnight till morning. At daylight they resumed the pursuit, and about 
sunrise discovered the horses; and, immediately dismounting and tying up 
their own, they crept cautiously to a rising ground which intervened, from 
the crest of which they perceived the encampment of four lodges close by. 
he y proceeded quietly, and had got within thirty or forty yards of their ob- 



1544.] CAPT. FREMO.NT'S AARRATIVE. 247 

ject, when a movement among the horses discovered them to the Indians; 
giving the war shout, they instantly charged into the camp, regardless of the 
number which the four lodges would imply. The Indians received them 
with a flight of arrows shot from their long bows, one of which passed 
through Godey's shirt collar, barely missing the neck ; our men fired their 
rifles upon a steady aim, and rushed in. Two Indians were stretched on 
the ground, fatally pierced with bullets ; the rest fled, except a lad that was 
captured. Tiie scalps of the fallen were instantly stripped off"; but in the 
process, one of them, who had two balls through his body, sprung to his 
ieet, the blood streaming from his skinned head, and uttering a hideous 
howl. An old squaw, possibly his mother, stopped and looked back from 
the mountain side she was climbing, threatening and lamenting. The 
frightful spectacle appalled the stout hearts of our men ; but they did what 
humanity required, and quickly terminated the agonies of the gory savage. 
They were now masters of the camp, which was a pretty little recess in the 
mountain, with a fine spring, and apparently safe from all invasion. Great 
preparations had been made to feast a large party, for it was a very proper 
place for a rendezvous, and for the celebration of such orgies as robbers of 
the desert would delight in. Several of the best horses had been killed, 
skinned, and cut up ; for the Indians living in mountains, and only coming 
into the plains to rob and murder, make no other use of horses than to eat 
them. Large earthen vessels were on the fire, boiling and stewing the 
horse beef; and several baskets, containing fifty or sixty pairs of moccasins, 
indicated the presence, or expectation, of aconsiderable party. They released 
the boy, who had given strong evidence of the stoicism, or something else, 
of the savage character, in commencing his breakfast upon a iiorse's head 
as soon as he found ho was not to be killed, but only tied as a prisoner. 
Their object accomplished, our men gathered up all the surviving horses, 
fifteen in number, returned upon their trail, and rejoined us at our camp in 
the afternoon of the same day. They had rode about one hundred miles in 
the pursuit and return, and all in thirty hours. The time, place, object, 
and numbers, considered, this expedition of Carson and Godey may be con- 
sidered among the boldest and most disinterested which tiie annals of western 
adventure, so full of daring deeds, can present. Two men, in a savage des- 
ert, pursue day and night an unknown body of Indians into the defiles of 
an unknown mountain — attack tiiem on sight, without counting numbers — 
and defeat them in an instant — and for what ? To punish the robbers of the 
desert, and to avenge the wrongs of Mexicans whom they did not know. 
I repeat: it was Carson and Godey who did this — the former an Jimerican^ 
born in the Boonslick county of Missouri : the latter a Frenchman, born in 
St. Louis — and both trained to western enterprise from early hfe. 

By the information of Fuentes, we had now to make a long stretch of 
forty or fifty miles across a plain which lay between us and the next possi- 
ble camp; and we resumed our journey late in the afternoon, with the in- 
tention of travelling through the night, and avoiding the excessive heat of 
the day, which was oppressive to our animals. For several hours we trav- 
elled across a high plain, passing, at the oppob^ite side, through a canon by 
the bed of a creek running northwardly into a small lake beyond, and both 
of them being dry. We had a warm, moonshiny night ; and, travelling di- 
rectly towards the north star, we journeyed now across an open plain be- 
tween mountain ridges ; that on the left being broken, rocky, and bald, ac- 
cording to the information of Carson and Godey, who had entered here ia 



24S CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

pursuit of the horses. The plain appeared covered principally with the zygo- 
phyllum Californicuin already mentioned ; and the line of our road was 
marked by the skeletons of horses, which were strewed to a considerable 
breadth over the plain. We were afterwards always warned, on entering one 
of these long stretches, by the bones of these animals, which had perished, 
before they could reach the water. About midnight we reached a consider- 
able stream bed, now dry, the discharge of the waters of this basin, (when 
it collected any,) down which we descended in a northwesterly direction. 
The creek bed was overgrown with shrubbery, and several hours before 
day it brought us to the entrance of a canon, where we found water, and 
encamped. This word cailon is used by the Spaniards to signify a defile 
or gorge in a creek or river, where high rocks press in close, and make a 
narrow way, usually difficult, and often impossible to be passed. 

In the morning we found that we had a very poor camping ground: a 
swampy, salty spot, with a little long, unwholesome grass ; and the water, 
which rose in springs, being useful only to wet the mouth, but entirely too 
salt to drink. All around was sand and rocks, and skeletons of horses 
which had not been able to find support for their lives. As we were about 
to start, we found, at the distance of a few hundred yards, among the hills 
to the southward, a spring of tolerably good water, which was a relief to 
ourselves; but the place was too poor to remain long, and therefore we 
continued on this morning. On the creek were thickets of spirolohiiim 
odoratum (acacia) in bloom, and very fragrant. 

Passing through the caiion, we entered another sandy basin, through 
which the dry stream bed continued its northwesterly course, in which di- 
rection appeared a high snowy mountain. 

We travelled through a barren district, where a heavy gale was blowing 
about the loose sand, and, after a ride of eight miles, reached a large creek 
of salt and bitter water, running in a westerly direction, to receive the stream 
bed we had left. It is called by the Spaniards Amargosa — the bitter water 
of the desert. Where we struck it, the stream bends ; and we continued in 
a northerly course up the ravine of its valley, passing on the way a fork 
from the right, near which occurred a bed of plants, consisting of a remark- 
able new genus of cruciferx. 

Gradually ascending, the ravine opened into a green valley, where, at 
the foot of the mountain, were springs of excellent water. We encamped 
among groves of the new acacia, and there was an abundance of good 
grass for the animals. 

This was the best camping ground we had seen since we struck the 
Spanish trail. The day's journey was about 12 miles. 

April 29. — To-day we had to reach the Archilette, distant seven miles, 
where the Mexican party had been attacked; and, leaving our encamp- 
ment early, we traversed a part of the desert, the most sterile and repulsive 
that we had yet seen. Its prominent features were dark sierras, naked and 
dry ; on the plains a few straggling shrubs — among them, cactus of several 
varieties. Fuentes pointed out one called by the Spaniards bisnada, which 
has a juicy pulp, slightly acid, and is eaten by the traveller to allay thirst. 
Our course was generally north; and, after crossing an intervening ridge, 
we descended into a sandy plain, or basin, in the middle of which was the 
grassy spor, with its springs and willow bushes, which constitutes a camp- 
ing place in the desert, and is called the Archilette. The dead silence of 
the place was ominous; and, galloping rapidly up, we found only the 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 249 

corpses of the two men: every thing else was gone. They were naked, 
mutilated, and pierced with arrows. Hernandez had evidently fought, and 
with desperation. He lay in advance of the willow half-faced tent, which 
sheltered his family, as if he had come out to meet danger, and to repulse 
it, from that asylum. One of his hands, and both his legs, had been cut 
off. Giacome, who was a large and strong-looking man, was lying in one 
of the willow shelters, pierced with arrows. Of the women no trace could 
be found, and it was evident they had been carried off captive. A little 
lap-dog, which had belonged to Pablo's mother, remained with the dead 
bodies, and was frantic with joy at seeing Pablo : he, poor child, was frantic 
with grief; and filled the air with lamentations for his father and mother. 
Mi padre ! Mimadre! — was his incessant cry. When we beheld this 
pitiable sight, and pictured to ourselves the fate of the two women, carried 
off by savages so brutal and so loathsome, all compunction for the scalped- 
alive Indian ceased ; and we rejoiced that Carson and Godey had been able 
to give so useful a lesson to these American Arabs, who lie in wait to 
murder and plunder the innocent traveller. 

We were all too much affected by the sad feelings which the place in- 
spired, to remain an unnecesary moment. The night we were obliged to 
pass there. Early in the morning we left it, having first written a brief 
account of what had happened, and put it in the cleft of a pole planted at the 
spring, that the approaching caravan might learn the fate of their friends. 
In commemoration of the event, we called the place Agua de Hernandez — 
Hernandez's spring. By observation, its latitude was 35° 51' 21". 

^pril 30. — We continued our journey over a district similar to that of 
the day before. From the sandy basin, in which was the spring, we entered 
another basin of the same character, surrounded every where by moun- 
tains. Before us stretched a high range, rising still higher to the left, and 
terminating in a snowy mountain. 

After a day's march of 24 miles, we reached at evening the bed of a 
stream from which the water had disappeared ; a little only remained in 
holes, which Ave increased by digging ; and about a mile above, the stream, 
not yet entirely sunk, was spread out over the sands, affording a little water 
for the animals. The stream came out of the mountains on the left, very 
slightly wooded wiihcottonwood, willow, and acacia,and a few dwarf oaks; 
and grass was nearly as scarce as water. A plant with showy yellow 
flowers {Stanleya integrifnlia) occurred abundantly at intervals for the 
last two days, and eriogonum inflaiinn was among the characteristic plants. 

May 1. — The air is rough, and overcoats pleasant. The sky is blue, and 
the day bright. Our road was over a plain, towards the foot of the moun- 
tain ; zygophyUum Californicum, now in bloom with a small yellow flower, 
is characteristic of the country ; and cacti were very abundant, and in 
rich fresh bloom, which wonderfully ornaments this poor country. We 
encamped at a spring in the pass, which had been the site of an old village. 
Here we found excellent grass, but very little water. We dug out the old 
spring, and watered some of our animals. The mountain here was wooded 
very slightly with the nut pine, cedars, and a dwarf species of oak ; and 
among the shrubs were Purshia tridentata, arleniisia^ and ephedra ncci- 
dentalis. The numerous shrubs which constitute the vegetation of the 
plains are now in bloom, with flowers of white, yellow, red, and purple. 
The continual rocks, and want of water and grass, begin to be very hard on 
our mules and horses ; but the principal loss is occasioned by their crippled 



250 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

feet, the greater part of those left being iw excellent order, and scarcely a 
day passes without some loss ; and, one by one, Fuentes's horses are con- 
stantly dropping behind. Whenever they give out, he dismounts and cuts 
of their tails and manes, to make saddle girths ; the last advantage one can 
gain from them. 

The next day, in a short but rough ride of 12 miles, we crossed the 
mountain; and, descending to a small valley plain, encamped at the foot 
of the ridge, on the bed of a creek, where we found good grass in sufficient 
quantity, and abundance of water in holes. The ridge is extremely rugged 
and broken, presenting on this side a continued precipice, and probably 
affords very few passes. Many digger tracks are seen around us, but no 
Indians were visible. 

May 3. — After a day's journey of 18 miles, in a northeasterly direction, 
we encamped in the midst of another very large basin, at a camping ground 
called las Vegas — a term which the Spaniards use to signify fertile or 
marshy plains, in contradistinction to llanos, which they apply to dry and 
sterile plains. Two narrow streams of clear water, four or five feet deep,, 
gush suddenly, with a quick current, from two singularly large springs 5 
these, and other waters of the basin, pass out in a gap to the eastward. 
The taste of the water is good, but rather too warm to be agreeable ; the 
temperature being 71° in the one, and 73° in the other. They, however,, 
afforded a delightful bathing place. 

May 4. — We started this morning earlier than usual, traveUing in a north- 
easterly direction across the plain. The new acacia {spirolobiuni odoratum) 
has now become the characteristic tree of the country ; it is in bloom, and 
its blossoms are very fragrant. The day was still, and the heat, whicli 
soon became very oppressive, appeared to bring out strongly the refreshing 
scent of the zygophyllaceous shrubs and the sweet perfume (ff the acacia. 
The snowy ridge we had just crossed looked out conspicuously in the 
northwest. In about five hours' ride, we crossed a gap in the surrounding, 
ridge, and the appearance of skeletons of horses very soon warned us that we 
were engaged in another dxy Jornada, which proved the longest we had 
made in all our journey — between fifty and sixty miles without a drop of 
water. 

Travellers through countries affording water and timber can have no 
conception of our intolerable thirst while journeying over the hot yellow 
sands of this elevated country, where the heated air seems to be entirely 
deprived of moisture. We ate occasionally the hisnada, and moistened 
our mouths with the acid of the sour dock, {rumex venosus.) Hourly ex- 
pecting to find water, we continued to press on until towards midnight, 
when, after a hard and uninterrupted march of 16 hours, our wild mules 
began running ahead ; and in a mile or two we came to a bold running 
stream — so keen is the sense of that animal, in these desert regions, in 
scenting at a distance this necessary of life. 

According to the information we had received, Sevier river was a tribu- 
tary of the Colorado ; and this, accordingly, should have been one of its 
afiiuents. It proved to be the Rio de los Angeles (river of the Angels) — a 
branch of the Rio Virgen (river of the Virgin.) 

May 5. — On account of our animals, it was necessary to remain to-day 
at this place. Indians crowded numerously around us in the morning; 
and we were obliged to keep arms in hand all day, to keep them out 
of the camp. They began to surround the horses, which, for the conve- 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 251 

nience of grass, we were guarding a little above, on the river. These were 
immediately driven in, and kept close to the camp. 

In the darkness of the night we had made a very bad encampment, our 
fires being commanded by a rocky blutf within 50 yards ; but, notwithstand- 
ing, we had the river and small thickets of willows on the other side. Several 
times during the day the camp was insulted by the Indians ; but, peace 
being our object, I kept simply on the defensive. Some of the Indians were 
on the bottoms, and others haranguing us from the bluffs; and they were 
scattered in every direction over the hills. Their language being probably 
a dialect of the Utah, wifh the aid of signs some of our people could com- 
prehend them very well. They were the same people who had murdered 
the Mexicans; and towards us their disposition was evidently hostile, nor 
were we well disposed towards them. They were barefooted, and nearly 
naked ; their hair gathered up into a knot behind ; and with his bow, each 
man carried a quiver with thirty or forty arrows partially drawn out. 
Besides these, each held in his hand two or three arrows for instant service. 
Their arrows are barbed with a very clear translucent stone, a species of 
opal, nearly as hard as the diamond ; and, shot from their long bow, are al- 
most as effective as a gunshot. In these Indians, I was forcibly struck by an 
expression of countenance resembling that in a beast of prey ; and all their 
actions are those of wild animals. Joined to the restless motion of the eye, 
there is a want of mind — an absence of thought — and an action wholly by 
impulse, strongly expressed, and which constantly recalls the similarity. 

A man who appeared to be a chief, with two or three others, forced him- 
self into camp, bringing with him his arms, in spite of my orders to the 
contrary. When shown our weapons, he bored his ear with his fingers, and 
said he could not hear. " Why," said he, " there are none of you." Count- 
ing the people around the camp, and including in the number a mule 
which was being shod, he made out 22. " So many," said he, showing the 
number, "and we — we are a great many;" and he pointed to the hills and 
mountains round about. " If you have your arms," said he, twanging his 
bow, " we have these." I had some difficulty in restraining the people, 
particularly Carson, who felt an insult of this kind as much as if it had 
been given by a more responsible being. " Don't say that, old man," said 
he; "don't you say that — your life's in danger" — speaking in good Eng- 
lish ; and probably the old man was nearer to his end than he will be be- 
fore he meets it. 

Several animals had been necessarily left behind near the camp last 
night ; and early in the morning, before the Indians made their appearance, 
several men were sent to bring them in. When I was beginning to be un- 
easy at their absence, they returned with information that they had been 
driven off from the trail by Indians ; and, having followed the tracks in a 
short distance, they found the animals cut up and spread out upon bushes. 
In the evening I gave a fatigued horse to some of the Indians for a feast; 
and the village which carried him off refused to share with the others, who 
made loud complaints from the rocks of the partial distribution. Many of 
these Indians had long sticks, hooked at the end, which they used in haul- 
ing out lizards, and other small animals, from their holes. During the day 
they occasionally roasted and ate lizards at our fires. These belong to the 
people who are generally known under the name of Diggers ; and to these 
I have more particularly had reference when occasionally speaking of a 
people whose sole occupation is to procure food sufficient to support ex- 



252 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

istence. The formation here consists of fine yellow sandstone, alternat- 
ing with a coarse conglomerate, in which the stones are from the size of 
ordinary gravel to six or eight inches in diameter. This is the formation 
which renders the surface of the country so rocky, and gives ns now a road 
alternately of loose heavy sands and rolled stones, which cripple the ani- 
mals in a most extraordinary manner. 

On the following morning we left the Rio de los Jingeks, and continued 
our way through the same desolate and revolting country, where lizards 
were the only animal, and the tracks of the lizard eaters the principal sign 
of human beings. After twenty miles' march through a road of hills and 
heavy sands, we reached the most dreary river I have ever seen — a deep 
rapid stream, almost a torrent, passing swiftly by, and roaring against ob- 
structions. The banks were wooded with willow, acacia, and a frequent 
plant of the country already mentioned, [Garrya eUiptica,) growing in 
thickets, resembling willow, and bearing a small pink flower. Crossing it, 
we encamped on the left bank, where we found a very little grass. Our 
three remaining steers, being entirely given out, were killed here. By the 
boiling point, the elevation of the river here is 4,060 feet ; and latitude, by 
observation, 36° 41' 33". The stream was running towards the southwest, 
and appeared to come from a snowy mountain in the north. It proved to 
be the Rio Virgen — a tributary to the Colorado. Indians appeared in bands 
on the hills, but did not come into camp. For several days we continued 
our journey up the river, the bottoms of which were thickly overgrown 
with various kinds of brush ; and the sandy soil was absolutely covered 
with the tracks of Diggers, who followed us stealthily, like a band of 
wolves; and we had no opportunity to leave behind, even for a few hours, 
the tired animals, in order that they might be brought into camp after a 
little repose. A horse or mule, left behind, was taken off in a moment. 
On the evening of the 8th, having travelled 28 miles up the river from our 
first encampment on it, we encamped at a little grass plat, where a spring 
of cool water issued from the bluff. On the opposite side was a grove of 
cottonwoods at the mouth of a fork, which here enters the river. On 
either side the valley is bounded by ranges of mountains, every where high, 
rocky, and broken. The caravan road was lost and scattered in the sandy 
country, and we had been following an Indian trail up the river. The 
hunters the next day were sent out to reconnoitre, and in the mean time 
we moved about a mile farther up, where we found a good little patch of 
grass. There being only sufficient grass for the night, the horses were 
sent with a strong guard in charge of Tabeau to a neighboring hollow, 
where they might pasture during the day ; and, to be ready incase the In- 
dians should make any attempt on the animals, several of the best horses 
were picketed at the camp. In a few hours the hunters returned, having 
found a convenient ford in the river, and discovered the Spanish trail on 
the other side. 

I had been engaged in arranging plants ; and, fatigued with the heat of 
the day, I fell asleep in the afternoon, and did not awake until sundown. 
Presently Carson came to me, and reported that Tabeau, who early in the 
day had left his post, and, without my knowledge, rode back to the camp 
we had left, in search of a lame mule, had not returned. While we were 
speaking, a smoke rose suddenly from the cottonwood grove below, which 
plainly told us what had befallen him; it was raised to inform the sur- 
rounding Indians that a blow had been struck, and to tell them to be on 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 253 

their guard. Carson, with several men well mounted, was instantly sent 
down the river, but returned in the night without tidings of the missing 
man. They went to the camp we had left, but neither he nor the mule 
was there. Searching down the river, they found the tracks of the mule, 
evidently driven along by Indians, whose tracks were on each side of those 
made by the animal. After going several miles, they came to the mule it- 
self, standing in some bushes, mortally wounded in the side by an arrow, 
and left to die, that it might be afterwards butchered for food. They also 
found, in another place, as they were hunting about on the. ground forTa- 
beau's' tracks, something that looked like a little puddle of blood, but which 
the darkness prevented them from verifying. With these details they re- 
turned to our camp, and their report saddened all our hearts. 

May 10. — This morning, as soon as there was light enough to follow 
tracks, I set out myself, with Mr. Fitzpatrick and several men, in search of 
Tabeau. We went to the spot where the appearance of puddled blood had 
been seen ; and this, we saw at once, had been the place where he fell and 
died. Blood upon the leaves, and beaten down bushes, showed that he had 
got his wound about twenty paces from where he fell, and that he had strug- 
gled for his life. He had probably been shot through the lungs with an 
arrow. From the place wliere he lay and bled, it could be seen that he had 
been dragged to the river bank, and thrown into it. No vestige of what 
had belonged to him could be found, except a fragment of his horse equip- 
ment. Horse, Run, clothes — all became the prey of these Arabs of the New 
World. 

Tabeau had been one of our best men, and his unhappy death spread a 
gloom over our party. Men, who have gone through such dangers and 
sufferings as we had seen, become like brothers, and feel each other's loss. 
To defend and avenge each other, is the deep feeling of all. We wished 
to avenge his death; but the condition of our horses, languishing for grass 
and repose, Ibrbade an expedition into unknown mountains. We knew the 
tribe who had done the mischief — the same which had been insulting our 
camp. They knew what they deserved, and had the discretion to show 
themselves to us no more. The day before, they infested our camp; now, 
not one appeared ; nor did we ever afterwards see but one who even be- 
longed to the same tribe, and lie at a distance. 

Our camp was in a basin below a deep cailon — a gap of two thousand 
feet deep in the mountain — through which the Rio Virgen passes, and 
where no man or beast could follow it. The Spanish trail, which we had 
lost in the sands of the basin, was on the opposite side of the river. We 
crossed over to it, and followed it northwardly towards a gap which was 
visible in the mountain. We approached it by a defile, rendered difficult 
for our barefooted animals by the rocks strewed along it ; and here the 
country changed its character. From the time we entered the desert, the 
mountains had been bald and rocky; here they began to be wooded with 
cedar and pine, and clusters of trees gave shelter to birds — a new and wel- 
come sight — which could not have lived in the desert we had passed. 

Descending a long hollow, towards the narrow valley of a stream, we saw 
before us a snowy mountain, far beyond which appeared another more lofty 
still. Good bunch grass began to appear on the hill sides, and here we found 
a singular variety of interesting shrubs. The changed appearance of the 
country infused among our people a more lively spirit, which was heightened 



254 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

by finding at evening a halting place of very good grass on the clear waters 
of the Santa Clara fork of the Rio Virgen. 

May 11. — The morning was cloudy and quite cool, with a shower of 
rain — the first we have had since entering the desert, a period of twenty- 
seven days ; and we seem to have entered a different climate, with the usual 
weather of the Rocky mountains. Our march to-day was very laborious, 
over very broken ground, along the Santa Clara river ; but then the coun- 
try is no longer so distressingly desolate. The stream is prettily wooded 
with sweet cottonwood trees — some of them of large size ; and on the hills, 
where the nut pine is often seen, a good and wholesome grass occurs fre- 
quently. This cottonwood, which is now in fruit, is of a different species 
from any in Michaux's Sylva. Heavy dark clouds covered the sky in the 
evening, and a cold wind sprang up, making fires and overcoats comforta- 
ble. 

May 12. — A little above our encampment, the river forked ; and we con- 
tinued up the right-hand branch, gradually ascending towards the summit 
of the mountain. As we rose towards the head of the creek, the snowy 
mountain on our right showed out handsomely — high and rugged with 
precipices, and covered with snow for about two thousand feet from their 
summits down. Our animals were somewhat repaid for their hard marches 
by an excellent camping ground on the summit of the ridge, which forms 
here the dividing chain between the waters of the Rio Virgen, which goes 
south to the Colorado, and those of Sevier river, flowing northwardly, and 
belonging to the Great Basin. We considered ourselves as crossing the 
rim of the basin; and, entering it at this point, we found here an exten- 
sive mountain meadow, rich in bunch grass, and fresh with numerous 
springs of clear water, all refreshing and delightful to look upon. It was, 
in fact, that las Vegas de Santa Clara, which had been so long presented to 
us as the terminating point of the desert, and where the annual caravan 
from California to New Mexico halted and recruited for some weeks. It 
was a very suitable place to recover from the fatigue and exhaustion of a 
month's suffering in the hot and sterile desert. The meadow was about a 
mile wide, and some ten miles long, bordered by grassy hills and moun- 
tains — some of the latter rising two thousand feet, and white with snow 
down to the level of the vegas. Its elevation above the sea was 5,280 feet; 
latitude, by observation, 37° 28' 28" ; and its distance from where we first 
struck the Spanish trail about four hundred miles. Counting from the time 
we reached the desert, and began to skirt, at our descent from Walker's 
Pass in the Sierra Nevada, we had travelled 550 miles, occupying twen- 
ty-seven days, in that inhospitable region. In passing before the great 
caravan, we had the advantage of finding more grass, but the disadvantage 
of finding also the marauding savages, who had gathered down upon the 
trail, waiting the approach of that prey. This greatly increased our labors, 
besides costing us the life of an excellent man. We had to move all day in 
a state of watch, and prepared for combat — scouts and flankers out, a front 
and rear division of our men, and baggage animals in the centre. At night, 
camp duty was severe. Those who had toiled all day, had to guard, by 
turns, the camp and the horses all night. Frequently one-third of the whole 
party were on guard at once ; and nothing but this vigilance saved us from 
attack. We were constantly dogged by bands,and even whole tribes of the 
marauders ; and although Tabeau was killed, and our camp infested and in- 
sulted by some, while swarms of them remained on the hills and mountain 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 255 

sides, there was manifestly a consultation and calculation going on, to decide 
the question of attacking us. Having reached the resting place of the Ve- 
gas de Santa Clara, we had complete relief from the heat and privations 
of the desert, and some relaxation from the severity of camp duty. Some 
relaxation, and relaxation only — for camp guards, horse guards, and scouts, 
are indispensable from the time of leaving the frontiers of Missouri until 
we return to them. 

After we left the Vegas, we had the gratification to be joined by the fa- 
mous hunter and trapper, Mr. Joseph Walker, whom I have before men- 
tioned, and who now became our guide. He had left Cahfornia with the 
great caravan ; and perceiving, from the signs along the trail, that there 
was a party of whites ahead, which he judged to be mine, he detached him- 
self from the caravan, with eight men, (Americans,) and ran the gaimtlet of 
the desert robbers, killing two, and getting some of ilie horses wounded, 
and succeeded in overtaking us. Nothing but his great knowledge of the 
country, great courage and presence of mind, and good rifles, could have 
brought him safe from such a perilous enterprise. 

May 13. — We remained one day at this noted place of rest and refresh- 
ment; and, resuming our progress in a northeastwardly direction, we de- 
scended into a broad valley, the water of which is tributary to Sevier lake. 
The next day we came in sight of the Wah-satch range of mountains on 
the right, white with snow, and here forming the southeast part of the Great 
Basin. Sevier lake, upon the waters of which we now were, belonged to 
the system of lakes in the eastern part of the Basin — of which, the Great 
Salt lake, and its sotithern limb, the Utah lake, were the principal — to- 
wards the region of which we were now approaching. We travelled for 
several days in this direction, within the rim of the Great Basin, crossing 
little streams which bore to the left for Sevier lake ; and plainly seeing, by 
the changed aspect of the country, that we were entirely clear of the 
desert, and approaching the regions which appertained to the system of the 
Rocky mountains. We met, in this traverse, a few mounted Utah Indians, 
in advance of their main body, watching the approach of the great caravan. 

May 16. — We reached a small salt lake, about seven miles long and one 
broad, at the northern extremity of which we encamped for the night. This 
little lake, which well merits its characteristic name, lies immediately at 
the base of the Wah-satch range, and nearly opposite a gap in that chain 
of mountains through which the Spanish trail passes; and which, again 
falling upon the waters of the Colorado, and crossing that river, proceeds 
over a mountainous country to Santa Fe. 

May 17. — After 440 miles of travelling on a trail, which served for a 
road, we again found ourselves under the necessity of exploring a track 
through the wilderness. The Spanish trail had borne off to the southeast, 
crossing the Wah-satch range. Our course led to the northeast, along the 
foot of that range, and leaving it on the right. The mountain present- 
ed itself to us under the form of several ridges, rising one above the other, 
rocky, and wooded with pine and cedar; the last ridge covered with snow. 
Sevier river, flowing northwardly to the lake of the same name, collects its 
principal waters from this section of the Wah-satch chain. We had now 
entered a region of great pastoral promise, abounding with fine streams, 
the rich bunch grass, soil that would produce wheat, and indigenous flax 
growing as if it had been sown. Consistent with the general character of 
its bordering mountains, this fertility of soil and vegetation does not extend 



256 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

far into the Great Basin. Mr. Joseph Walker, our guide, and who has 
more knowledge of these parts than any man I know, informed me that all 
the country to the left was unknown to him, and that even the Digger 
tribes, which frequented Lake Sevier, could tell him nothing about it. 

May 20.— We met a band of Utah Indiaws, headed by a well-known 
chief, who had obtained the American or English name of Walker, by 
which he is quoted and well known. They were all mounted, armed with 
rifles, and use their rifles well. The chief had a fusee, which he had car- 
ried slung, in addition to his rifle. They were journeying slowly towards 
the Spanish trail, to levy their usual tribute upon the great Californian cara- 
van. They were robbers of a higher order than those of the desert. They 
conducted their depredations with form, and under the color of trade and 
toll for passing through their country. Instead of attacking and killing, they 
aflect to purchase — taking the horses they like, and giving something nomi- 
nal in return. The chief was quite civil to me. He was personally ac- 
quainted with his namesake, our guide, who made my name known to him. 
He knew of my expedition of 1842 ; and, as tokons of friendship, and 
proof that we had met, proposed an interchange of presents. We had no 
great store to choose out of; so he gave me a Mexican blanket, and I gave 
him a very fine one which I had obtained at Vancouver. 

May 23. — We reached Sevier river — the main tributary of the lake of 
the same name — which, deflecting from its northern course, here breal{js 
from the mountains to enter the lake. It was really a fine river, from eight 
to twelve feet deep ; and, after searching in vain for a fordable place, we 
made little boats (or, rather, rafts) out of bulrushes, and ferried across. 
These rafts are readily made, and give a good conveyance across a river. 
The rushes are bound in bundles, and tied hard ; the bundles are tied down 
upon poles, as close as they can be pressed, and fashioned like a boat, in being 
broader in the middle and pointed at the ends. The rushes, being tubular 
and jointed, are light and strong. The raft swims well, and is shoved along 
by poles, pr paddled, or pushed and pulled by swimmers, or drawn by ropes. 
On this occasion, we used ropes — one at each end — and rapidly drew our 
little float backwards and forwards, from shore to shore. The horses swam. 
At our place of crossing, which was the most northern point of its bend, the 
latitude was 39° 22' 19". The banks sustained the character for fertility 
and vegetation which we had seen for some days. The name of this river 
and lake was an indication of our approach to regions of which our people 
had been the explorers. It was probably named after some American trap- 
per or hunter, and was the first American name we had met with since 
leaving the Columbia river. From the Dalles to the point where we turn- 
ed across the Sierra Nevada, near 1,000 miles, we heard Indian names, 
and the greater part of the distance none; from Nueva Helvetia (Sacra- 
mento) to las Vegas de Santa Clara, about 1,000 more, all were Spanish; 
from the Mississippi to the Pacific, French and American or English were 
intermixed; and this prevalence of names indicates the national character 
of the first explorers. 

We had here the misfortune to lose one of our people, Francois Badeau, 
who had been with me in both expeditions ; during which he had always 
been one of my most faithful and efficient men. He was killed in drawing 
towards him a gun by the muzzle ; the hammer being caught, discharged 
the gun, driving the ball through his head. We hurried him on the banks 
of the river. 



]S44.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 2$7 

Crossing the next day a slight ridge along the river, we entered a hand- 
some mountain valley covered with fine grass, and directed our course to- 
wards a high snowy peak, at the foot of which lay the Utah lake. On 
our right was a bed of high mountains, their summits covered with snow, 
constituting the dividing ridge between the Basin waters and those of the 
Colorado. At noon we fell in with a party of Utah Indians coming out 
of the mountain, and in the afternoon encamped on a tributary to the lake, 
which is separated from the waters of the Sevier by very slight dividing 
grounds. 

Early the next day we came in sight of the lake ; and, as we descended 
to the broad bottoms of the Spanish fork, three horsemen were seen gallop- 
ing towards us, who proved to be Utah Indians — scouts from a village, 
which was encamped near the mouth of the river. They were aimed 
with rifles, and their horses were in good condition. We encamped near 
them, on the Spanish fork, which is one of the principal tributaries to the 
lake. Finding the Indians troublesome, and desirous to remain here a day, 
we removed the next morning farther down the lake, and encamped on a 
fertile bottom near the foot of the same mountainous ridge which borders 
the Great Salt lake, and along which we had journeyed the previous Sep- 
tember. Here the principal plants in bloom were two, which were re- 
markable as affording to the Snake Indians — the one an abundant supply 
of food, and the other the most useful among the applications which they 
use for wounds. These were the kooyah plant, growing in fields of ex- 
traordinary luxuriance, and convollaria steUaia, which, from the expe- 
rience of Mr. Walker, is the best remedial plant known among those In- 
dians. A few miles below us was another village of Indians, from which 
we obtained some fish — among them a few salmon trout, which were very 
mucli inferior in size to those along the Californian mountains. The sea- 
son for taking them had not yet arrived ; but the Indians were daily ex- 
pecting them to come up out of the lake. 

We had now accomplished an object we had in view when leaving the 
Dalles of the Columbia in November last : we had reached the Utah lake; 
but by a route very different from what we had intended, and without suf- 
ficient time remaining to make the examinations which were desired. It- 
is a lake of note in this country, under the dominion of the Utahs, who 
resort to it for fish. Its greatest breadth is about 15 miles, stretching far 
to the north, narrowing as it goes, and connecting with the Great Salt lake. 
This is the report, and which I believe to be correct ; but it is fresh water, 
while the other is not only salt, but a saturated solution of salt ; and here 
is a problem which requires to be solved. It is almost entirely surrounded 
by mountains, walled on the north and east by a high and snowy range,, 
which supplies to it a fan of tributary streams. Among these, the principal 
river is the Timpan-ogo — signifying Rock river — a name which the rocky 
grandeur of its scenery, remarkable even in this country of rugged moun- 
tains, has obtained for it from the Indians. In the Utah language, og-wdh- 
be, the term for river, when coupled with other words in common conver- 
sation, is usually abbreviated to ogo ; timpan signifying rock. It is probable 
that this river furnished the name which on the older maps has been gene- 
rally applied to the Great Salt lake ; but for this I have preferred a name 
which will be regarded as highly characteristic, restricting to the river the 
descriptive term Timpan-ogo. and leaving for the lake into which it flows 
17 



258 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

the name of the people who reside on its shores, and by which it is known 
throughout the country. 

The volume of water afforded by the Timpan-ogo is probably equal to 
that of the Sevier river; and, at the time of our visit, there was only one 
place in the lake valley at which the Spanish fork was fordable. In the 
cove of mountains along its eastern shore, the lake is bordered by a plain, 
where the soil is generally good, and in greater part fertile ; watered by a 
delta of prettily timbered streams. This would be an excellent locality 
for stock farms ; it is generally covered with good bunch grass, and would 
abundantly produce the ordinary grains. 

In arriving at the Utah lake, we had completed an immense circuit of 
twelve degrees diameter north and south, and ten degrees east and west; 
and found ourselves, in May, 1844, on the same sheet of water which we 
had left in September, 1843. The Utah is the southern limb of the Great 
Salt lake ; and thus we had seen that remarkable sheet of water both at its 
northern and southern extremity, and were able to fix its position at these 
two points. The circuit which we had made, and which had cost us eight 
months of time, and 3,500 miles of travelling, had given us a view of 
Oregon and of North California from the Rocky mountains to the Pacific 
ocean, and of the two principal streams which form bays or harbors on the 
coast of that sea. Having completed this circuit, and being now about to 
turn the back upon the Pacific slope of our continent, and to recross the 
Rocky mountains, it is natural to look back upon our footsteps, and take 
some brief view of the leading features and general structure of the coun- 
try we had traversed. These are peculiar and striking, and differ essentially 
from the Atlantic side of our country. The mountains all are higher,more 
numerous, and more distinctly defined in their ranges and directions ; and, 
what is so contrary to the natural order of such formations, one of these 
ranges, which is near the coast, (the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Range,) 
presents higher elevations and peaks than any which are to be found in the 
Rocky mountains themselves. In our eight months' circuit, we were never 
out of sight of snow ; and the Sierra Nevada, where we crossed it, was 
near 2,000 feet higher than the South Pass in the Rocky mountains. In 
height, these mountains greatly exceed those of the Atlantic side, con- 
stantly presenting peaks which enter the region of eternal snow ; and some 
of them volcanic, and in a frequent state of activity. They are seen at 
great distances, and guide the traveller in his courses. 

The course and elevation of these ranges give direction to the rivers and 
character to the coast. No great river does, or can, take its rise below the 
Cascade and Sierra Nevada range ; the distance to the sea is too short to 
admit of it. The rivers of the San Francisco bay, which are the largest 
after the Columbia, are local to that bay, and lateral to the coast, having 
their sources about on a line with the Dalles of the Columbia, and running 
each in a valley of its own, between Coast range and the Cascade and Sierra 
Nevada range. The Columbia is the only river which traverses the whole 
breadth of the country, breaking through all the ranges, and entering the 
sea. Drawing its waters from a section of ten degrees of latitude in the 
Rocky mountains, which are collected into one stream by three main forks 
(Lewis's, Clark's, and the North fork) near the centre of the Oregon valley, 
this great river thence proceeds by a single channel to the sea, while its 
three forks lead each to a pass in the mountains, which opens the way into 



IS44.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 059 

the interior of the continent. This fact in relation to the rivers of this 
region gives an immense vahie to the Columbia. Its mouth is the only 
inlet and outlet to and from the sea ; its three forks lead to the passes in 
the mountains ; it is therefore the only line of communication between the 
Pacific and the interior of North America ; and all operations of war or 
commerce, of national or social intercourse, must be conducted upon it. 
This gives it a value beyond estimation, and would involve irreparable 
injury if lost. In this unity and concentration of its waters, the Pacific 
side of our continent differs entirely from the Atlantic side, where the 
waters of the Allegany mountains are dispersed into many rivers, having 
their diflerent entrances into the sea, and opening many lines of communi- 
cation with the interior. 

The Pacific coast is equally different from that of the Atlantic. The 
coast of the Atlantic is low and open, indented with numerous bays, 
sounds, and river estuaries, accessible every where, and opening by many 
channels into the heart of the country. The Pacific coast, on the con- 
trary, is high and compact, with few bays, and but one that opens into 
the heart of the country. The immediate coast is what the seamen call 
iron bound. A little within, it is skirted by two successive ranges of moun- 
tains, standing as ramparts between the sea and the interior country ; and 
to get through which, there is but one gate, and that narrow and easily de- 
fended. This structure of the coast, backed by these two ranges of moun- 
tains, with its concentration and unity of waters, gives to the country an 
immense military strength, and will probably render Oregon the most im- 
pregnable country in the world. 

Differing so much from the Atlantic side of our continent, in coast, 
mountains, and rivers, the Pacific side differs from it in another most rare 
and singular feature — that of the Great interior Basin, of which I have so 
often spoken, and the whole form and character of which I was so anxious 
to ascertain. Its existence is vouched for by such of the American traders 
and hunters as have some knowledge of that region ; the structure of the 
Sierra Nevada range of mountains requires it to be there; and my own 
observations confirm it. Mr. Joseph Walker, who is so well acquainted in 
those parts, informed me that, from the Great Salt lake west, there was a 
succession of lakes and rivers which have no outlet to the sea, nor any 
connexion with the Columbia, or with the Colorado of the Gulf of Cali- 
fornia. He described some of these lakes as being large, with numerous 
streams, and even con:^derable rivers, falling into them. In fact, all concur 
in the general report of these interior rivers and lakes; and, for want of 
understanding the force and power of evaporation, which so soon estab- 
lishes an equilibrium between the loss and supply of waters, the fable of 
whirlpools and subterraneous outlets has gained belief, as the only imagi- 
-nable way of carrying off the waters which have no visible discharge. 
The structure of the country would require this formation of interior lakes; 
•for the waters which would collect between the Rocky mountains and the 
Sierra Nevada, not being able to cross this formidable barrier, nor to get to 
the Columbia or the Colorado, must naturally collect into reservoirs, each 
of which would have its little system of streams and rivers to supply it. 
This would be the natural effect ; and what I saw went to confirm it. The 
Great Salt lake is a formation of this kind, and quite a large one; and having 
many streams, and one considerable river, four or five hundred miles long, 
falling into it. This lake and river I saw and examined myself; and also saw 



2C0 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1S44.. 

the Wah-satch and Bear River mountains which enclose the waters of the 
lake on the east, and constitute, in that quarter, the rim of the Great Basin. 
Afterwards, along the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada, where we trav- 
elled for forty-two days, I saw the line of lakes and rivers which lie at the 
foot of that Sierra ; and which Sierra is the western rim of the Basin. In 
going down Lewis's fork and the main Columbia, I crossed only inferior 
streams coming in from the left, such as could draw their water from a 
short distance only; and I often saw the mountains at their heads, white 
with snow; which, all accounts said, divided the waters of the desert from 
those of the Columbia, and which could be no other than the range of 
mountains which form the rim ot the Basin on its northern side. And in 
returning from California along the Spanish trail, as far as the head of the 
Santa Clara fork of the Rio Virgen, I crossed only small streams making 
their way south to the Colorado, or lost in sand — as the Mo-hah-ve ; while 
to the left, lofty mountains, their summits white with snow, were often visi- 
ble, and which must have turned water to the north as well as to the south, 
and thus constituted, on this part, the southern rim of the Basin. At the 
head of the Santa Clara fork, and in the Vegas de Santa Clara, we crossed 
{he ridge which parted the two systems of waters. We entered the Basin 
at that point, and have travelled in it ever since, having its southeastern 
rim (the Wah-satch mountain) on the right, and crossing the streams which 
flow down into it. The existence of the Basin is therefore an established 
fact in my mind ; its extent and contents are yet to be better ascertained. 
It cannot be less than four or five hundred miles each way, and must lie 
principally in the Alta California; the demarcation latitude of 42° proba- 
bly cutting a segment from the north part of the rim. Of its interior, but 
little is known. It is called a desert, and, from what I saw of it, sterility 
may be its prominent characteristic ; but where there is so much water,^ 
there must be some oasis. The great river, and the great lake, reported^ 
may not be equal to the report; but where there is so much snow, there 
must be streams ; and where there is no outlet, there must be lakes to hold 
the accumulated waters, or sands to swallow them up. In this eastern 
part of the Basin, containing Sevier, Utah, and the Great Salt lakes, and 
the rivers and creeks falling into them, we know there is good soil and 
good grass, adapted to civilized settlements. In the western part, on Sal- 
mon Trout river, and some other streams, the same remark may be made.- 
The contents of this Great Basin are yet to be examined. That it is 
peopled, we know ; but miserably and sparsely. From all that I heard and 
saw, I should say that humanity here appeared in its lowest form, and in 
its most elementary state. Dispersed in single families ; without fire arms; 
eating seeds and insects ; digging roots, (and hence their name) — such is 
the condition of the greater part. Others are a degree higher, and live in- 
communities upon some lake or river that supplies fish, and from which 
they repulse the miserable Digger. The rabbit is the largest animal known 
in this desert ; its flesh affords a little meat ; and their bag-like covering is 
made of its skins. The wild sage is their only wood, and here it is of ex- 
traordinary size — sometimes a foot in diameter, and six or eight feet high. 
It serves for fuel, for building material, for shelter to the rabbits, and for 
some sort of covering for the feet and legs in cold weather. Such are the 
accounts of the inhabitants and productions of the Great Basin ; and which, 
though imperfect, must have some foundation,and excite our desire to know 
the whole. 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 261 

The whole idea of such a desert, and such a people, is a novelty in our 
country, and excites Asiatic, not American ideas. Interior basins, with 
their own systems of lakes and rivers, and often sterile, are common enough 
in Asia ; people still in the elementary state of families, living in deserts, 
with no other occupation than the mere animal search for food, may still 
be seen in that ancient quarter of the globe ; but in America such things 
are new and strange, unknown and unsuspected, and discredited when 
related. But I flatter myself that what is discovered, though not enough 
to satisfy curiosity, is sufficient to excite it, and that subsequent explorations 
will coniplete what has been commenced. 

This account of the Great Basin, it will be remembered, belongs to the 
Alta California, and has no application to Oregon, whose capabilities may 
justify a separate remark. Referring to my journal for particular descrip- 
tions, and for sectional boundaries between good and bad districts, I can 
only say, in general and comparative terms, that, in that branch of agri- 
culture which implies the cultivation of grains and staple crops, it would 
be inferior to the Atlantic Slates, though many parts are superior for wheat; 
while in the rearing of flocks and herds it would claim a high place. Its 
grazing capabilities are great; and even in the indigenous grass now there, 
an element of individual and national wealth may be found. In fact, the 
valuable grasses begin within one hundred and fifty miles of the Missouri 
frontier, and extend to the Pacific ocean. East of the Rocky mountains, 
it is the short curly grass, on which the bufl'alo delight to feed, (whence its 
name of buffalo,) and which is still good when dry and apparently dead. 
West of those mountains it is a larger growth, in clusters, and hence called 
bunch grass, and which has a second or fall growth. Plains and mountains 
both exhibit them ; and I have seen good pasturage at an elevation of ten 
thousand feet. In this spontaneous product, the trading or travelling cara- 
vans can find subsistence for their animals; and in military operations any 
number of cavalry may be moved, and any number of cattle may be driven; 
and thus men and horses be supported on long expeditions, and even in 
winter in the sheltered situations. 

Commercially, the value of the Oregon country must be great, washed 
as it is by the north Pacific ocean — fronting Asia — producing many of the 
elements of commerce — mild and healthy in its climate — and becoming, as 
it naturally will, a thoroughfare for the East India and China trade. 

Turning our faces once more eastward, on the morning of the 27th we 
left the Utah lake, and continued for two days 16 ascend the Spanish fork, 
which is dispersed in numerous branches among very rugged mountains, 
which afford few passes, and render a familiar acquaintance with them 
necessary to the traveller. The stream can scarcely be said to have a val- 
ley, the mountains rising often abruptly from the water's edge; but a good 
-trail facilitated our travelling, and there were frequent bottoms, covered 
with excellent grass. The streams are prettily and variously wooded; and 
every where the mountain shows grass and timber. 

At our encampment on the evening of the 28th, near the head of one 
of the branches we had ascended, strata of bituminous limestone were 
displayed in an escarpment on the river blutfs, in which were contained a 
variety of fossil shells of new species. 

It will be remembered, that in crossing this ridge about 120 miles to the 
northward in August last, strata of fossiliferous rock were discovered, which 



262 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844L 

have been referred to the oolitic period; it is probable that these rocks also 
belong to the same formation. 

A few miles from this encampment we reached the head of the stream; 
and crossing, by an open and easy pass, the dividing ridge which separates 
the waters of the Great Basin from those of the Colorado, we reached the 
head branches of one of its larger tributaries, which, from the decided color 
of its waters, has received the name of White river. The snows of the 
mountains were now beginning to melt, and all the little rivulets were 
running by in rivers, and rapidly becoming difficult to ford. Continuing a 
few miles up a branch of White river, we crossed a dividing ridge between 
its waters and those of the Uintah. The approach to the pass, which is 
the best known to Mr. Walker, was somewhat difficult for packs, and im^- 
practicable for wagons — all the streams being shut in by narrow ravines, 
and the narrow trail along the steep hill sides allowing the passage of only 
one animal at a time. From the summit we had a fine view of the snowy 
Bear River range; and there were still remaining beds of snow on the cold 
sides of the hills near the pass. We descended by a narrow ravine, in 
which was rapidly gathered a little branch of the tjintah, and halted to 
noon about 1,500 feet below the pass, at an elevation, by the J|oiling pointy, 
of 6,900 feet above the sea. 

The next day we descended along the river, and about noon reached a 
point where three forks come together. Fording one of these with some 
difficulty, we continued up the middle branch, which, from the color of its 
waters, is named the Red river. The few passes, and extremely rugged 
nature of the country, give to it great strength, and secure the Utahs from 
the intrusion of their enemies. Crossing in the afternoon a somewhat 
broken highland, covered in places with fine grasses, and with cedar on 
the hill sides, we encamped at evening on another tributary to the Uintah, 
called the Duchesne fork. The water was very clear, the stream not being 
yet swollen by the melting snows; and we forded it without any difficulty. 
It is a considerable branch, being spread out by islands, the largest arm 
being about a hundred feet wide ; and the name it bears is probably that 
of some old French trapper. 

The next day we continued down the river, which we were twice obliged 
to cross; and, the water having risen during the night, it was almost every 
where too deep to be forded. After travelling about sixteen miles, we en- 
camped again on the left bank. 

I obtained here an occultation of 5 Scorpii at the dark limb of the moon, 
which gives for the longitude of the place 112° 18' 30", and the latitude 
40° IS' 53". 

June 1. — We left to-day the Duchesne fork, and, after traversing a broken 
country for about sixteen miles, arrived at noon at another considerable 
branch, a river of great velocity, to which the trappers have improperly 
given the name of Lake fork. The name applied to it by the Indians sig- 
nifies great swiftness, and is the same which they use to express the speed 
of a race horse. It is spread out in various channels over several hundred 
yards, and is every where too deep and swift to be forded. At this season 
of the year, there is an uninterrupted noise from the large rocks which are 
rolled along the bed. After infinite difficulty, and the delay of a day, we 
succeeded in getting the stream bridged, and got over with the loss of one 
of our animals. Continuing our route across a broken country, of which 
the higher parts were rocky and timbered with cedar, and the lower parts 



1844,] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 263 

covered with good grass, we reached, on the afternoon of the 3d, the 
Uintah fort, a trading post belonging to Mr. A. Roubideaii,on the principal 
fork of the Uintah river. We found the stream nearly as rapid and diffi- 
cult as the Lake fork, divided into several channels, which were too broad 
to be bridged. With the aid of guides from the fort, we succeeded, with 
very great difficulty, in fording it; and encamped near the fort, which is 
situated a short distance above the junction of two branches which make 
the river. 

By an immersion of the 1st satellite, (agreeing well with the result of the 
occultation observed at the Duchesne fork,) the longitude of the post is 109° 
56' 43", the latitude 40° 27' 45". 

It has a motley garrison of Canadian and Spanish en^ag6s and hunters, 
with the usual number of Indian women. We obtained a small supply of 
sugar and coti'ee, with some dried meat and a cow, which was a very ac- 
ceptable change from the pinoli on which we had subsisted for some weeks 
past. I strengthened my party at this place by the addition of Augusta 
Archambeau, an excellent voyageur and hunter, belonging to the class of 
Carson and Godey. 

On the morning of the 5th we left the fort* and the Uintah river, and 
continued our road over a broken country, which afforded, however, a rich 
addition to our botanical collection ; and, after a march of 25 miles, were 
again checked by another stream, called Ashley's fork, where we were de- 
tained until noon of the next day. 

An immersion of the 2d satellite gave for this place a longitude of 109° 
27' 07", the latitude by observation being 40° 28' 07". 

In the afternoon of the next day we succeeded in finding a ford ; and, 
after travelling fifteen miles, encamped high upon the mountainside, where 
we found excellent and abundant grass, which we had not hitherto seen. 
A new species of elymus, which had a purgative and weakening effect 
upon the animals, had occurred abundantly since leaving the fort. From 
this point, by observation 7,300 feet above the sea, we had a view of the 
Colorado below, shut up amongst rugged mountains, and which is the re- 
cipient of all the streams we had been crossing since we passed the rim of 
the Great Basin at the head of the Spanish fork. 

On the 7th we had a pleasant but long day's journey, through beautiful 
little valleys and a high mountain country, arriving about evening at the 
verge of a steep and rocky ravine, by which we descended lo '■^Brown's 
hole.^^ This is a place well known to trappers in the country, where the 
canons through which the Colorado runs expand into a narrow but pretty 
valley, about sixteen miles in length. The river was several hundred 
yards in breadth, swollen to the top of its banks, near to wlMh it was in 
many places fifteen to twenty feet deep. We repaired a skin boat which 
had been purchased at the fort, and, after a delay of a day, reached the op- 
posite banks with much less delay than had been encountered on the Uin- 
tah waters. According to information, the lower end of the valley is the 
most eastern part of the Colorado ; and the latitude of our encampment, 
which was opposite to the remains of an old fort on the left bank of the 
river, was 40° 46' 27", and, by observation, the elevation above the sea 



• This fort was attacked and taken by a band of the Utah Indians since we passed it ; and the 
men of the garrison killed, the women carried off. Mr. Roubideau, a trader of St. Louis, was ab- 
sent, and so escaped the fate of the rest. . , 



264 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

5,150 feet. The bearing to the entrance of the canon below was south 20° 
east. Here the river enters between lofty precipices of red rock, and the 
country below is said to assume a very rugged character; the river and 
its affluents passing through canons which forbid all access to the water. 
This sheltered little valley was formerly a favorite wintering ground for 
the trappers, as it afforded them sufficient pasturage for their animals, and 
the surrounding mountains are well stocked with game. 

We surprised a flock of mountain sheep as we descended to the river, 
and our hunters killed several. The bottoms of a small stream called the 
Vermillion creek, which enters the left bank of the river a short distance 
below our encampment, were covered abundantly with F. vermicular is, 
and other chenopodiaceous shrubs. From the lower end of Brown's hole 
we issued by a remarkably dry caiion, fifty or sixty yards wide, and rising, 
as we advanced, to the height of six or eight hundred feet. Issuing from 
this, and crossing a small green valley, we entered another rent of the same 
nature, still narrower than the other, the rocks on either side rising in nearly 
vertical precipices perhaps 1,500 feet in height. These places are men- 
tioned, to give some idea of the country lower down on the Colorado, to 
which the trappers usually apply the name of a canon country. The canon 
opened upon a pond of water, where we halted to noon. Several "flocks of 
mountain sheep were here among the rocks, which rung with volleys of 
small arms. In the afternoon we entered upon an ugly, barren, and broken 
country, corresponding well with that we had traversed a few degrees 
north, on the same side of the Colorado. The Vermillion creek afforded 
us brackish water and indifferent grass for the night. 

A few scattered cedar trees were the only improvement of the country 
on the following day; and at a little spring of bad water, where we halted 
to noon, we had not even the shelter of these from the hot rays of the sun. 
At night we encamped in a fine grove of cottonwood trees, on the banks of 
the Elk Head river, the principal fork of the Yampah river, commonly 
called by the trappers the Bear river. We made here a very strong cored 
and fort, and formed the camp into vigilant guards. The country we were 
now entering is constantly infested by war parties of the Sioux and other 
Indians, and is considered among the most dangerous war grounds in the 
Rocky mountains; parties of whites having been repeatedly defeated on 
this river. 

On the 11th we continued up the river, which is a considerable stream, 
fifty to a hundred yards in width, handsomely and continuously wooded 
with groves of the narrow-leaved cottonwood, (popuhis angustifolia ;) 
with these vt^re thickets of willow and grain du boeuf. The characteristic 
plant along the river is F. vermicularis, which generally covers the bot- 
toms ; mingled with this, are saUne shrubs and artemisia. The new variety 
of grass which we had seen on leaving the Uintah fort had now disap- 
peared. The country on either side was sandy and poor, scantily wooded 
with cedars, but the river bottoms aff'orded good pasture. Three ante- 
lopes were killed in the afternoon, and wo encamped a little below a branch 
of the river, called St. Vrain's fork. A few miles above was the fort at 
which P'rapp's party had been defeated two years since ; and we passed 
during the day a place where Carson had been fired upon so close that one 
of the men had five bullets through his body. Leaving this river the next 
morning, we took our way across the hills, where every hollow had a 
spring of running water, with good grass. 



1844.] CAPT. FREMOiNT'S NARRATIVE. 265 

Yesterday and to-day we have had before our eyes the high mountains 
which divide the Pacific from the Mississippi waters; and entering here 
among the lower spurs, or foot hills of the range, the face of the country 
began to improve with a magical rapidity. Not only the river bottoms. 
but the hills, were covered with grdss ; and among the usual varied flora 
of the mountain region, these were occasionally blue with the showy bloom 
of a lupinus. In the course of the morning we had the first glad view of 
buffalo, and welcomed the appearance of two old bulls with as much joy 
as if they had been messengers from home ; and when we descended to 
noon on St. Vrain's fork, an affluent of Green river, the hunters brought in 
mountain sheep and the meat of two fat bulls. Fresh entrails in the river 
showed us that there were Indians above ; and, at evening, judging it un- 
safe to encamp in the bottoms, which were wooded only with willow thick- 
ets, we ascended to the spurs above, and forted strongly in a small aspen 
grove, near to which was a spring of cold water. The hunters killed two 
fine cows near the camp. A band of elk broke out of a neighboring grove ; 
antelopes were running over the hills : and on the opposite river plains, 
herds of bufialo were raising clouds of dust. The country here appeared 
more variously stocked with game than any part of the Rocky mountains 
we had visited ; and its abundance is owing to the excellent pasturage, 
and its dangerous character as a war grotind. 

June 13. — There was snow here near our mountain camp, and the morn- 
ing was beautiful and cool. Leaving St. Vrain's fork, we took our way di- 
rectly towards the summit of the dividing ridge. The bottoms of the streams 
and level places were wooded with aspens; and as we neared the summit, 
we entered again the piney region. We had a delightful morniiig's ride, 
the ground affording us an excellent bridle path, and reached the summit 
towards midday, at an elevation of 8,000 feet. With joy and exultation we 
saw ourselves once more on the top of the Rocky mountains, and beheld a 
little stream taking its course towards the rising sun. It was an affluent of 
the Platte, called Pullam^s fork, and we descended to noon upon it. It is 
a pretty stream, twenty yards broad, and bears the name of a trapper who, 
some years since, was killed here by the Gros Ventre Indians. 

Issuing from the pines in the afternoon, we saw spread out before us the 
valley of the Platte, with the pass of the Medicine Butte beyond, and some 
of the Sweet Water mountains; but a smoky haziness in the air entirely 
obscured the Wind River chain. 

We were now about two degrees south of the South Pass, and our course 
home would have been eastwardly ; but that would have taken us over 
ground already examitied, and therefore without the interest which would 
excite curiosity. Southwardly there were objects worthy to be explored, to 
wit : the approximation of the head waters of three different rivers — the 
Platte, the Arkansas, and the Grand River fork of the Rio Colorado of the 
gulf of California ; the Passes at the heads of these rivers ; and the three 
remarkable mountain coves, called Parks, in which they took their rise. 
One of these Parks was, of course, on the western side of the dividing ridge; 
and a visit to it would require us once more to cross the summit of the 
Rocky mountains to the west, and then to re-cross to the east ; making, in 
all, with the transit we had just accomplished, three crossings of that moun- 
tain in this section of its course. But, no matter. The coves, the heads of 
the rivers, the approximation of their waters, the practicabiUty of the moun- 
tain passes, and the locality of the three Parks, were all objects of inter- 
est, and, although well known to hunters and trappers, were unknown to 



266 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

science and to history. We therefore changed our course, and turned up 
the valley of the Platte instead of going down it. 

We crossed several small affluents, and again made a fortified camp in 
a grove. The country had now become very beautiful — rich in water, 
grass, and game ; and to these were added the charm of scenery and pleas- 
ant weather. 

June 14. — Our route this morning lay along the foot of the mountain, 
over the long low spurs which sloped gradually down to the river, forming 
the broad valley of the Platte. The country is beautifully watered. In al- 
most every hollow ran a clear, cool mountain stream ; and in the course of 
the morning we crossed seventeen, several of them being large creeks, forty 
to fifty feet wide, with a swift current, and tolerably deep. These were 
variously wooded with groves of aspen and cottonwood, with willow, 
cherry, and other shrubby trees. Buffalo, antelope, and elk, were frequent 
during the day ; and, in their abundance, the latter sometimes reminded 
us slightly of the Sacramento valley. 

We halted at noon on Potter's fork — a clear and swift stream, forty yards 
wide, and in many places deep enough to swim our animals ; and in the 
evening encamped on a pretty stream, where there were several beaver 
dams, and many trees recently cut down by the beaver. We gave to this 
the name of Beaver Dam creek, as now they are becoming sufficiently rare 
to distinguish by their name the streams on which they are found. In this 
mountain they occurred more abundantly than elsewhere in all our journey, 
in which their vestiges had been scarcely seen. 

The next day we continued our journey up the valley, the country pre- 
senting much the same appearance, except that the grass was more scanty 
on the ridges, over which was spread a scrubby growth of sage ; but still 
the bottoms of the creeks were broad, and aftbrded good pasture grounds. 
We had an animated chase after a grizzly bear this morning, which we 
tried to lasso. Fuentes threw the lasso upon his neck, but it slipped off, 
and he escaped into the dense thickets of the creek, into which we did not 
like to venture. Our course in the afternoon brought us to the main Platte 
river, here a handsome stream, with a uniform breadth of seventy yards, 
except where widened by frequent islands. It was apparently deep, with 
a moderate current, and wooded with groves of large willow. 

The valley narrowed as we ascended, and presently degenerated into a 
gorge, through which the river passed as through a gate. We entered it, 
and found ourselves in the New Park — a beautiful circular valley of thirty 
miles diameter, walled in all round with snowy mountains, rich with water 
and with grass, fringed with pine on the mountain sides below the snow 
line, and a paradise to all grazing animals. The Indian name for it signi- 
fies " cow lodge,^' of which our own may be considered a translation ; the 
enclosure, the grass, the water, and the herds of buffalo roaming over it, 
naturally presenting the ideaof a])ark. We halted for the night just within 
the gate, and expected, as usual, to see herds of buffalo ; but an Arapahoe 
village had been before us, and not one was to be seen. Latitude of the 
encampment 40° 52' 44". Elevation by the boiling point 7,720 feet. 

It is from this elevated cove, and from the gorges of the surrounding 
mountains, and some lakes within their bosoms, that the Great Platte river 
collects its first waters, and assumes its first form ; and certainly no river 
could ask a more beautiful origin. 

June 16. — In the morning we pursued our way through the Park, follow- 



1S44.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 26T 

ing a principal branch of the Platte, and crossing, among many smaller 
ones, a bold stream, scarcely fordable, called Lodge Pole fork, and which is- 
sues from a lake in the mountains on the right, ten miles long. In the even- 
ing we encamped on a small stream, near the upper end of the Park. Lati- 
tude of the camp 40° 33' 22". 

June 17. — We continued our way among the waters of the Park, over the 
foot hills of the bordering mountains, where we found good pasturage, and 
surprised and killed some buffalo. We fell into a broad and excellent trail, 
made by buffalo, where a wagon would pass with ease ; and, in the course 
of the morning, we crossed the summit of tiie Rocky mountains, through 
a pass which was one of the most beautiful we had ever seen. The trail 
led among the aspens, through open grounds, richly covered with grass, and 
carried us over an elevation of about 9,000 feet above the level of the sea. 

The country appeared to great advantage in the delightful summer 
weather of the mountains, which we still continued to enjoy. Descending 
from the pass, we found ourselves again on the western waters ; and halted 
to noon on the edge of another mountain valley, called the Old Park, in 
which is formed Grand river, one of the principal branches of the Colorado 
of California. We were now moving with some caution, as, from the trail, 
we found the Arapahoe village had also passed this way. As we were 
coming out of their enemy's country, and this was a war ground, we were 
desirous to avoid them. After a long afternoon's march, we halted at night 
on a small creek, tributary to a main fork of Grand river, which ran 
through this portion of the valley. The appearance of the country in the 
Old Park is interesting, though of a different character from the New ; in- 
stead of being a comparative plain, it is more or less broken into hills, and 
surrounded by the high mountains, timbered on the lower parts with 
quaking asp and pines. 

June 18. — Our scouts, who were as usual ahead, made from a huite this 
morning the signal of Indians, and we rode up in time to meet a party of 
about 30 Arapahoes. They were men and women going into the hills — the 
men for game, the women for roots — and informed us that the village was 
encamped a few miles above, on the main fork of Grand river, which passes 
through the midst of the valley. I made them the usual presents; but 
they appeared disposed to be unfriendly, and galloped back at speed to the 
village. Knowing that we had trouble to expect, I descended immediately 
into the bottoms of Grand river, which were overflowed in places, the river 
being up, and made the bi.'St encampment the ground afforded. We had no 
time to build a fort, but found an open place among the willows, which was 
defended by the river on one side and the overflowed bottoms on the other. 
W^e had scarcely made our few preparations, when about 200 of them ap- 
peared on the verge of the bottom, mounted, painted, and armed tor war. 
We planted the American flag between us ; and a short parley ended in a 
truce, with something more than the usual amount of presents. About 20 
Sioux were with them — one of them an old chief, who had always been 
friendly to the whites. He informed me that, before coming down, a coun- 
cil had been held at the village, in which the greater part had declared for 
attacking us — we had come from their enemies, to whom we had doubtless 
been carrying assistance in arms and ammunition ; but his own party, with 
some few of the Arapahoes who had seen us the previous year in the 
plains, opposed it. It will be remembered that it is customary for this peo- 
ple to attack the trading parties which they meet in this region, considering 



268 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

all whom they meet on the western side of the mountains to be their ene- 
mies. They deceived me into the belief that I should find a ford at their 
village, and I could not avoid accompanying them ; but put several sloughs 
between us and their village, and forted strongly on the banks of the river, 
which was every where rapid and deep, and over a hundred yards in breadth. 
The camp was generally crowded with Indians ; and though the baggage 
was carefully watched and covered, a number of things were stolen. 

The next morning we descended the river for about eight miles, and 
halted a short distance above a canon, through which Grand river issues 
from the Park. Here it was smooth and deep, 150 yards in breadth, and 
its elevation at this point 6,700 feet. A frame for the boat being very soon 
made, our baggage was ferried across ; the horses, in the mean time, swim- 
ming over. A southern fork of Grand river here makes its junction, nearly 
opposite to the branch by which we had entered the valley, and up this we 
continued for about eight miles in the afternoon, and encamped in a bottom 
on the left bank, which afforded good grass. At our encampment it was 
70 to 90 yards in breadth, sometimes widened by islands, and separated into 
several channels, with a very swift current and bed of rolled rocks. 

On the 20th we travelled up the left bank, with the prospect of a bad 
road, the trail here taking the opposite side ; but the stream was up, and no- 
where fordable. A piney ridge of mountains, with bare rocky peaks, was 
on our right all the day, and a snowy mountain appeared ahead. We 
crossed many foaming torrents with rocky beds, rushing down to the river ; 
and in the evening made a strong fort in an aspen grove. The valley had 
already become very narrow, shut up mere closely in densely timbered 
mountains, the pines sweeping down the verge of the bottoms. The coq 
de prairie [tetrao europhasicnius) was occasionally seen among the sage. 

We saw to-day the returning trail of an Arapahoe party which had been 
sent from the village to look for Utahs in the Bayou Salade, (South Park ;) 
and it being probable that they would visit our camp with the desire to re- 
turn on horseback, we were more than usually on the alert. 

Here the river diminished to 35 yards, and, notwithstanding the number 
of affluents we had crossed, was still a large stream, dashing swiftly by, 
with a great continuous fall, and not yet fordable. We had a delightful ride 
along a good trail among the fragrant pines; and the appearance of buffalo 
in great numbers indicated that there were Indians in the Bayou Salade, 
(South Park,) by whom they were driven out. We halted to nooH under 
the shade of the pines, and the weather was most delightful. The country 
was literally alive with buffalo ; and the continued echo of the hunter's 
rifles on the other side of the river for a moment made me uneasy, thinking 
perhaps they were engaged with Indians ; but in a short time they came 
into camp with the meat of seven fat cows. 

During the earlier part of the day's ride, the river had been merely a 
narrow ravine between high piney mountains, backed on both sides, but 
particularly on the west, by a line of snowy ridges ; but, after several hours' 
ride, the stream opened out into a valley with pleasant bottoms. In the 
afternoon the river forked into three apparently equal streams ; broad buffalo 
trails leading up the left hand, and the middle branch indicating good passes 
over the mountains ; but up the right-hand branch, (which, in the object of 
descending from the mountain by the main head of the Arkansas, I was 
most desirous to follow,) there was no sign of a bnftblo trace. Apprehend- 
ing from this reason, and the character of the mountains, which are known 



1S44.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 269 

to be extremely rugged, that the right-hand branch led to no pass, I pro- 
ceeded up the middle branch, which formed a flat valley bottom between 
limbered ridges on the left and snowy mountains on the right, terminating 
in large hitttes of naked rock. The trail was good, and the country inter- 
esting ; and at nightfall we encamped in an open place among the pines, 
where we built a strong fort. The mountains exhibit their usual varied 
growth of flowers, and at this place I noticed, among others, /hermopsis 
montanu, whose bright yellow color makes it a showy plant. This has 
been a characteristic in many parts of the country since reaching the Uintah 
waters. With fields of iris were uquilegia cceriilea, violets, esparcette, and 
strawberries. 

At dark, we perceived a fire in the edge of the pines, on the opposite 
side of the valley. We had evidently not been discovered, and, at the re- 
port of a gun, and the blaze of fresh fuel which was heaped on our fires, 
those of the strangers were instantly extinguished. In the morning, they 
were found to be a party of six trappers, who had ventured out among the 
mountains after beaver. They informed us that two of the number with 
which they started had been already killed by the Indians — one of them 
but a few days since — by the Arapahoes we had lately seen, who had found 
him alone at a camp on this river, and carried oft' his traps and animals. 
As they were desirous to join us, the hunters returned with them to their 
encampment, and we continued up the valley, in which the stream rapidly 
diminished, breaking into small tributaries — every hollow aflbrding water. 
At our noon halt, the hunters joined us with the trappers. While preparing 
to start from their encampment, they found themselves suddenly surround- 
ed by a party of Arapahoes, who informed theiu that their scouts had dis- 
covered a large Utah village in the Bayou Salade, (South Park,) and that a 
large war party, consisting of almost every man in the village, except those 
who were too old to go to war, were going over to attack them. The main 
body had ascended the left fork of the river, which aftbrded a better pass 
than the branch we were on ; and this party had followed our trail, in order 
that we might add our force to theirs. Carson informed them that we were 
too far ahead to turn back, but would join them in tiie bayou ; and the In- 
dians went off" apparently satisfied. By the temperature of boiling water, 
our elevation here was 10,430 feet; and still the pine forest continued, and 
grass was good. 

In the afternoon, we continued our road — occasionally through open 
pines, with a very gradual ascent. We surprised a herd of buffalo, enjoying 
the shade at a small lake among the pines ; and they made the dry branches 
crack, as they broke through the woods. In a ride of about three-quarters 
of an hour, and having ascended perhaps 800 feet, we reached the sum- 
mit OF THE DIVIDING RIDGE, which would thus havc an estimated height 
of 1 1,200 feet. Here the river spreads itself into small branches and springs, 
heading nearly in the summit of the ridge, which is very narrow. Imme- 
diately below us was a green valley, through which ran a stream : and a short 
distance opposite rose snowy mountains, whose summits were formed into 
peaks of naked rock. We soon afterwards satisfied ourselves that imme- 
diately beyond these mountains was the main branch of the Arkansas 
river — most probably heading directly with the little stream below us, 
which gathered its waters in the snowy mountains near by. Descriptions 
of the rugged character of the mountains around the head of the Arkan- 
sas, which their appearance amply justified, deterred me from making any 



270 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

attempt to reach it, which would have involved a greater length of time 
than now remained at my disposal. 

In about a quarter ot an hour, we descended from the summit of the Pass 
into the creek below, our road having been very much controlled and inter- 
rupted by the pines and springs on the mountain side. Turning up the 
stream, we encamped on a bottom of good grass near its head, which gath- 
ers its waters in the dividing crest of the Rocky mountains, and, according 
to the best information we could obtain, separated only by the rocky wall 
of the ridge from the head of the main Arkansas river. By the observa- 
tions of the evening, the latitude of our encampment was 39° 20' 24", and 
south of which, therefore, is the head of the Arkansas river. The stream 
on which we had encamped is the head of either the Fontaine-qui-bouit, 
a branch of the Arkansas, or the remotest head of the south fork of the 
Platte ; as which, you will find it laid down on the map. But descending 
it only through a portion of its course, we have not been able to settle this 
point satisfactorily. 

In the evening,aband of buffalo furnished a little excitement, by charging 
through the camp. 

On the following day, we descended the stream by an excellent buffalo 
trail, along the open grassy bottom of the river. On our right, the bayou 
was bordered by a mountainous range, crested with rocky and naked peaks; 
and below, it had a beautiful park-like character of pretty level prairies, in- 
terspersed among low spurs, wooded openly with pine and quaking asp, 
contrasting well with the denser pines which swept around on the moun- 
tain sides. Descending always the valley of the stream, towards noon we 
•descried a mounted party descending the point of a spur, and, judging them 
to be Arapahoes — who, defeated or victorious, were equally dangerous to 
us, and with whom a fight would be inevitable — we hurried to post our- 
selves as strongly as possible on some willow islands in the river. We had 
scarcely halted when they arrived, proving to be a party of Utah women, 
who told us that on the other side of the ridge their village was fighting 
with the Arapahoes. As soon as they had given us this information, they 
filled the air with cries and lamentations, which made us understand that 
some of their chiefs had been killed. 

Extending along the river, directly ahead of us, was a low piney ridge, 
leaving between it and the stream a small open bottom, on which the 
Utahs had very injudiciously placed their village, which, according to the 
women, numbered about 300 warriors. Advancing in the cover of the 
pines, the Arapahoes, about daylight, charged into the village, driving off 
a great number of their horses, and killing four men ; among them, the 
principal chief of the village. They drove the horses perhaps a mile be- 
yond the village, to the end of a hollow, where they had previously forted 
at the edge of the pines. Here the Utahs had instantly attacked them in 
turn, and, according to the report of the women, were getting rather the 
best of the day. The women pressed us eagerly to join with their people, 
and would immediately have provided us with the best horses at the vil- 
lage ; but it was not for us to interfere in such a conflict. Neither party 
were our friends, or under our protection ; and each was ready to prey 
upon us that could. But we could not help feeling an unusual excitement 
at being within a few hundred yards of a fight, in which 500 men were 
closely engaged, and hearing the sharp cracks of their rifles. We were in 
a bad position, and subject to be attacked in it. Either party which we 



1S44.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 271 

might meet, victorious or defeated, was certain to fall upon us; and, gear- 
ing up immediately, we kept close along the pines of the ridge, having it 
between us and the village, and keeping the scouts on the summit, to give 
us notice of the approach of Indians. As we passed by the village, which 
was immediately below us, horsemen were galloping to and fro, and groups 
of people were gathered around those who were wounded and dead, and 
who were being brought in from the field. We continued to press on, and, 
crossing another fork, which came in from the right, after having made 
fifteen miles from the village, fortified ourselves strongly in the pines, a 
short distance from the river. 

During the afternoon. Pike's Peak had been plainly in view before us, 
and, from our encampment, bore N. 87° E. by compass. This was a 
familiar object, and it had for us the face of an old friend. At its foot 
were the springs, where we had spent a pleasant day in coming out. Near 
it were the habitations of civilized men ; and it overlooked the broad 
smooth plains, which promised us an easy journey to our home. 

The next day we left ihe river, which continued its course towards 
Pike's Peak ; and taking a southeasterly direction, in about ten miles we 
crossed a gentle ridge, and, issuing from the South Park, found ourselves 
involved among the broken spurs of the mountains which border the great 
prairie plains. Although broken and extremely rugged, the country was 
very interesting, being well wateredby numerous affluents to the Arkansas 
river, and covered with grass and a variety of trees. The streams, which, 
in the upper part of their course, ran through grassy and open hollows, 
after a (ew miles all descended into deep and impracticable canons, through 
which they found their way to the Arkansas valley. Here the buffalo 
trails we had followed were dispersed among the hills, or crossed over iato 
the more open valleys of other streams. 

During the day our road was fatiguing and difficult, reminding us much, 
by its steep and rocky character, of our travelling the year before among 
the Wind river mountains ; but always at night we found some grassy 
bottom, which afforded us a pleasant camp. In the deep seclusion of these 
little streams, we found always an abundant pasturage, and a wild luxu- 
riance of plants and trees. Aspens and pines were the prevailing timber; 
on the creeks, oak was frequent ; but the narrow-leaved Cottonwood, (pop- 
ulus nngustifolia,) of unusually large size, and seven or eight feet in 
circumference, was the principal tree. With these were mingled a variety of 
shrubby trees, which aided to make the ravines almost impenetrable. 

After several days' laborious travelling, we succeeded in extricating 
ourselves from the mountains, and on the morning of the 2Sth encamped 
immediately at their foot, on a handsome tributary to the Arkansas river. 
In the afternoon we descended the stream, winding our way along the 
bottoms, which were densely wooded with oak, and in the evening en- 
camped near the main river. Continuing the next day our road along the 
Arkansas, and meeting on the way a war party of Arapahoe Indians, (who 
had recently been committing some outrages at Bent's fort, killing stock 
and driving off horses,) we arrived before sunset at the Pueblo, near the 
mouth of the Foy-itaine-qui-bonit river, where we had the pleasure to find 
a number of our old acquaintances. The little settlement appeared in a 
thriving condition; and in the interval of our absence another had been 
established on the river, some thirty miles above. 

June 30. — Our cavalcade moved rapidly down the Arkansas, along the 



272 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

broad road which follows the river, and on the 1st of July we arrived at 
Bent's fort, about 70 miles below the mouth of the Fonfaine-qui-bouit. 
As we emerged into view from the groves on the river, we were saluted 
with a display of the national flag and repeated discharges from the guns 
of the fort, where we were received by Mr. George Bent with a cordial 
welcome and a friendly hospitality, in the enjoyment of which we spent . 
several very agreeable days. We Avere now in the region where our 
mountaineers were accustomed to live ; and all the dangers and difficulties 
of the road being considered past, four of them, including Carson and 
Walker, remained at the fort. 

On the 5th we resumed our journey down the Arkansas, travelling along 
a broad wagon road, and encamped about twenty miles below the fort. 
On the way we met a very large village of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians, 
who, with the Arapahoes, were returning from the crossing of the Arkan- 
sas, where they had been to meet the Kioway and Camanche Indians. 
A iQ'w days previous they had massacred a party of fifteen Delawares, 
whom they had discovered in a fort on the Smoky Hill river, losing in the 
affair several of their own people. They were desirous that we should 
bear a pacific message to the Delawares on the frontier, from whom they 
expected retaliation ; and we passed through them without any difficulty 
or delay. Dispersed over the plain in scattered bodies of horsemen, and 
family groups of women and children, with dog trains carrying baggage, and 
long lines of pack horses, their appearance was picturesque and imposing. 

Agreeably to your instructions, which required me to complete, as far as 
practicable, our examinations of the Kansas, I left at this encampment the 
Arkansas river, taking a northeasterly direction across the elevated dividing 
grounds which separate that river from the Avaters of the Platte. On the 
7th we crossed a large stream, about forty yards wide, and one or two feet 
deep, flpwing with a lively current on a sandy bed. The discolored and 
muddy appearance of the water indicated that it proceeded from recent 
rains ; and we are inclined to consider this a branch of (he Smoky Hill 
river, although, possibly, it may be the PaAvnee fork of the Arkansas. Be- 
yond this stream Ave travelled over high and level prairies, halting at small 
ponds and holes of water, and using for our fires the bois de vache, the 
country being without timber. On the evening of the Sth we encamped 
in a Cottonwood grove on the banks of a sandy stream bed, where there 
Avas Avater in holes sufficient for the camp. Here several hollow's, or dry 
creeks with sandy beds, met together, forming the head of a stream which 
afterAvards proved to be the Smoky Hill fork of the Kansas river. 

The next morning, as we were leaving our encampment, a number of 
Arapahoe Indians AA'ere discovered. They belonged to a Avar party which 
had scattered over the prairie in returning from an expedition against the 
Pawnees. 

As Ave travelled down the valley, Avater gathered rapidly in the sandy 
bed from many little tributaries ; and at evening it had become a hand- 
some stream, fifty to eighty feet in Avidth, Avith a lively current in small 
channels, the Avaier being principally dispersed among quicksands. 

Gradually enlarging, in a few days' march it became a river eighty 
yards in breadth, Avooded Avith occasional groves of cotton wood. Our road 
Avas generally over level uplands bordering the river, Avhich were closely 
covered with a sward of buffalo grass. 

0n the 10th Ave entered again the buffalo range, where we had found these 



1844.] CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 973 

animals so abundant on our outward journey, and halted for a day among 
numerous herds, in order to make a provision of meat sufficient to carry 
us to the frontier. 

A few days afterwards, we encamped, in a pleasant evening, on a high 
river prairie, the stream being less than a hundred yards broad. During 
the night we had a succession of thunder storms, with heavy and continu- 
ous rain, and towards morning the water suddenly burst over the banks, 
flooding the bottoms, and becoming a large river, five or six hundred yards 
in breadth. The darkness of the night and incessant rain had concealed 
from the guard the rise of the water; and the river broke into the camp 
so suddenly, that the baggage was instantly covered, and all our perishable 
collections almost entirely ruined, and the hard labor of many months 
destroyed in a moment. 

On the 17th we discovered a large village of Indians encamped at the 
mouth of a handsomely wooded stream on the right bank of the river. 
Readily inferring, from the nature of the encampment, that they were 
Pawnee Indians, and confidently expecting good treatment from a people 
who receive regularly an annuity from the Government, we proceeded di- 
rectly to the village, where we found assembled nearly all the Pawnee tribe, 
who were now returning from the crossing of the Arkansas, where they 
had met the Kioway and Camanche Indians. We were received by them 
with the unfriendly rudeness and characteristic insolence which they never 
fail to display whenever ihey find an occasion for doing so with impunity. 
The little that remained of our goods was distributed among them, but 
proved entirely insufficient to satisfy their greedy rapacity; and, after some 
delay, and considerable difficulty, we succeeded in extricating ourselves 
from the village, and encamped on the river about fifteen miles below.* 

The country through which we had been travelling since leaving the 
Arkansas river, for a distance of 260 miles, presented to the eye only a 
succession of far-stretching green prairies, covered with the unbroken ver- 
dure of the bufialo grass, and sparingly wooded along the streams with 
straggliHg trees and occasional groves of cottonwood; but here the country 
began perceptibly to change its character, becoming a more fertile, wooded, 
and beautiful region, covered with a profusion of grasses, and watered with 
innumerable little streams, which were wooded with oak. large elms, and 
the usual varieties of timber common to the lower course of the Kansas 
river. 

As we advanced, the country steadily improved, gradually assimilating 
itself in appearance to the northwestern part of the State of Missouri. The 
beautiful sward of the buffalo grass, which is regarded as the best and 
most nutritious found on the prairies, appeared now only in patches, being 
replaced by a longer and coarser grass, which covered tlie face of the coun- 
try luxuriantly. The difference in the character of the grasses became 
suddenly evident in the weakened condition of our animals, which began 
sensibly to fail as soon as we quitted the buffalo grass. 

The river preserved a uniform breadth of eighty or a hundred yards, 
with broad bottoms continuously timbered with large cottonwood trees, 
among which were interspersed a few other varieties. 

• In a recent report to the department, from Major Wharton, who visited the Pawnee villages 
with a military force some months afterwards, it is stated that the Indians had intended to attack 
our party during the night we remained at this encampment, but were prevented by the interposition 
of the Pawnee Loups. 
IS 



274 CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. [1844. 

While engaged in crossing one of the numerous creeks which frequently- 
impeded and checked our way, sometimes obliging us to ascend them for 
several miles, one of the people (Alexis Ayot) was shot through the leg by 
the accidental discharge of a rifle — a mortifying and painful mischance, 
to be crippled for life by an accident, after having nearly accomplished in 
safety a long and eventful journey. He was a young man of remarkably 
good and cheerful temper, and had been among the useful and efficient 
men of the party. 

After having travelled directly along its banks for two hundred and 
ninety miles, we left the river, where it bore suddenly off in a northwesterly 
direction, towards its junction with the Republican fork of the Kansas, dis- 
tant about sixty miles; and, continuing our easterly course, in about twenty 
miles we entered the wagon road from Santa Fe to Independence, and on 
the last day of July encamped again at the little town of Kansas, on the 
banks of the Missouri river. 

During our protracted absence of fourteen months, in the course of which 
we had necessarily been exposed to great varieties of weather and of climate, 
no one case of sickness had ever occurred among us. 

Here ended our land journey; and the day following our arrival, we 
found ourselves on board a steamboat rapidly gliding down the broad 
Missouri. Our travel-worn animals had not been sold and dispersed over 
the country to renewed labor, but were placed at good pasturage on the 
frontier, and are now ready to do their part in the coming expedition. 

On the 6th of August we arrived at St. Louis, where the party was 
finally disbanded ; a great number of the men having their homes in the 
neighborhood. 

Andreas Fuentes also remained here, having readily found employment 
for the winter, and is one of the men engaged to accompany me the present 
year. 

Pablo Hernandez remains in the family of Senator Benton, where he is 
well taken care of, and conciliates good will by his docility, intelligence, and 
amiability. General Almonte, the Mexican minister at Washington, to 
whom he was of course made known, kindly offered to take charge of 
him, and to carry him back to Mexico ; but the boy preferred to remain 
where he was until he got an education, for which he shows equal ardor 
and aptitude. 

Our Chinook Indian had his wish to see the whites fully gratified. He 
accompanied me to Washington, and, after remaining several months at 
the Columbia college, was sent by the Indian department to Philadelphia, 
where, among other things, !ie learned to read and write well, and speak 
the English language with some fluency. 

He will accompany me in a few days to the frontier of Missouri, whence 
he will be sent with some one of the emigrant companies to the village at 
the Dalles of the Columbia. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

J. C. FREMONT, 

Bt. Capt. Topi. Engineers. 



CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 



275 



TABLE OF DISTANCES 

ALOirO 

THE ROAD TRAVELLED BY THE EXPEDITION IN 1843 AND 1844. 



OUTWARD JOURNEY. 

From Kansas Landing to Fort Vancouver. 





2 -5 


S tc 

2 s 






SI- 


*'3 




Date. 




si 
li 


Loealities. 


Dale. 


if 

ft-" 


8i 
s « 

ca a 

.22 c 
ft * 


Localities. 


1343. 


Miles. 


Miles. 




1843. 


Miles. 


Miles. 




May 29 


7 


7 




July 29 


6 


807 




30 


22 


20 




30 


24 


831 




31 


26 


55 




31 


30 


861 




June 1 


23 


78 




Aug. 1 


26 


887 




2 


22 


100 




2 


31 


918 


Medicine Bow river 


3 


23 


123 




3 


26 


944 




4 


18 


141 




4 


18 


962 


North fork. 


5 


19 


160 




6 


19 


981 




6 


14 


174 




7 


30 


1,011 




7 


8 


182 




8 


29 


1,040 




8 


5 


187 


Junction of Smoky 


9 


26 


1,066 


Sweet Water. 








Hill and Repub- 


10 


23 


1,089 










lican forks. 


11 


29 


1,118 




10 


1 


188 




12 


25 


1,143 




11 


24 


212 




13 


u 


1,152 


South Pass. 


12 


28 


240 




1,167 




13 


18 


258 




14 


25 


1,192 




14 


17 


275 




15 


29 


1,221 


Green river, or Rio 


16 


21 


296 










Colorado. 


17 


14 


310 




16 


26 


1,247 




18 


23 


333 




17 


21 


1,268 




19 


18 


351 




18 


32 


1,300 




20 


26 


377 




19 


28 


1,328 




21 


27 


404 




20 


30 


1,358 




22 


26 


430 




21 


26 


1,384 




23 


26 


456 




22 


37 


1,421 




24 


34 


490 




23 


12 


1,433 




25 


26 


616 


Crossing of the Re- 


24 


22 


1,455 




26 


24 


640 


publican. 


25 
26 


8 
21 


1,463 

1,484 


Beer Springs. 


27 


27 


567 




27 


21 


1,505 




28 


30 


597 




28 


27 


I,. 532 




29 


21 


618 




29 


17 


1,549 




30 


26 


644 


South fork- 


30 


19 


1,568 




July 1 


32 


676 




31 


26 


1,594 




2 


29 


705 




Sept. I 


22 


1,616 




3 


28 


733 




2 


17 


1,633 




4 


18 


751 


St. Vrain's fort. 


3 


3 


1,636 


Mouth of Bear river. 


26 


4 


755 




4 


6 


1,642 




27 


26 


781 




5 


27 


1,669 




28 


20 


801 




6 


25 


1,694 





276 



CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 
TABLE OF DISTANCES— Continued. 







from 
iding. 














Date. 




1 i 


Localities. 


Date. 


II 




LocaUties. 




1843. 


Miles. 


Miles. 




1843. 


Miles. 


Miles. 






Sept. 8 


20 


1,714 


Shore of the Salt 


Oct. 9 


24 


2,254 












lake. 


10 


2 


2,256 


Fort Boise. 




9 


8 


1,722 


Island in the Salt 
lake. 


11 
12 


20 

27 


2,276 
2,303 






10 


28 


1,750 




13 


20 


2,323 






12 


13 


1,763 




14 


22 


2,345 






13 


27 


1,790 




15 


26 


2,371 






14 


24 


1,814 




16 


13 


2,384 






15 


19 


1,833 




17 


21 


2,405 






16 


26 


1,859 




18 


20 


2,425 






17 


24 


1,883 




19 


21 


2,446 






18 


23 


1,906 


Fort Hall. 


20 


12 


2,458 






22 


12 


1,918 




21 


5 


2,463 






24 


10 


1,928 


American falls on 
Lewis's fork. 


22 
24 


16 

18 


2,479 
2,497 






25 


13 


1,941 




25 


18 


2,515 






26 


17 


1,958 




26 


3 


2,518 


Fort Nez Perce, 


at 


27 


20 


J, 978 










the mouth of W 


a- 


28 


25 


2,003 










lahwalah river. 




29 


24 


2,027 




28 


19 


2,537 






30 


26 


2,053 




29 


19 


2,556 






Oct. 1 


16 


2,069 




30 


21 


2,577 






2 


29 


2,098 




31 


26 


2,603 






3 


16 


2,114 




Nov. 1 


23 


2,626 






4 


19 


2,133 




2 


19 


2,645 






5 


26 


2,159 




3 


17 


2,662 






6 


22 


2,181 




4 


14 


2,676 


Dalles. 




7 


23 


2,204 




6& 7 


90 


2,766 


Fort Vancouver. 




8 


26 


2,230 















HOMEWARD JOURNEY. 

From the Dalles to the Missouii river. 





"S ^' 


a 






"a! c 


a 






l^ 


2 « 






2^' 


^t 




















Date. 


1% 


l« 


Localities. 


Date. 


E"^ 


U 


Localiticij. 




.I'S 

0-" 


2 <u 

5 " 






5"* 


2 o 




1843. 


Miles. 


Miles. 




1843. 


Miles. 


Miles. 




Nov. 25 


12 


12 




Dec. 4 


' 9 


147 




26 


22 


34 




5 


11 


158 




27 


13 


47 




6 


19 


177 




28 


21 


68 




7 


25 


202 




29 


21 


89 




8 


19 


221 




30 


10 


99 




9 


14 


2.35 




Dec. 1 


6 


105 




10 


15 


250 


Tlamath lake. 


2 


11 


116 




12 


5 


255 




3 


2-2 


138 




13 


12 


267 





CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 
TABLE OF DISTANCES— Continued. 



277 





travel- 
day. 


a 








S 

U 




Date. 


03 x: 
1 « 


l§ 


Localities. 


Date. 




i« 


Localities. 




"5? 


« 2 






ws si. 










«" 








S" 




1843. 


Miles. 


Miles. 




1844. 


Miles. 


Miles. 




Dec. U 


21 


288 




Feb. 20 


3 


1,001 


Summit of the Sierra 


15 


21 


309 










Nevada. 


16 


9 


318 


Summer lake. 


21 


5 


1,006 




17 


6 


324 




22 


3 


1,009 




18 


20 


344 




23 


5 


1,014 




19 


21 


365 




24 


12 


1,026 




20 


26 


391 


Lake Aberl. 


25 


14 


1,040 




21 


6 


397 




26 


14 


1,054 




22 


29 


426 




27 


1 


1,055 




23 


7 


433 




28 


10 


1,065 




24 


13 


446 


Christmas lake. 


March 1 


6 


1,071 




25 


14 


460 




2 & 3 


10 


1,081 




26 


21 


481 




4 


7 


1,088 




27 


24 


505 




5 


20 


1,108 




28 


16 


521 




6 


34 


1,142 


Nueva HeWetia. 


29 


15 


536 




24 


16 


1,158 




30 


17 


5.53 




25 


18 


1,176 




31 


16 


571 




26 

27 


21 

42 


1,197 
1,239 




1844. 








28 


17 


1,256 




Jan. 1 


20 


591 




29 


8 


1,264 




2 


25 


616 




April 1 


10 


1,274 




3 


7 


623 




3 


22 


1,296 




4 


7 


630 




4 


18 


1,314 




5 


2 


632 




5 


37 


1,351 




6 


15 


647 


Gieat Boiling spring. 


6 


15 


1,366 




9 


11 


658 




7 


50 


1,416 




10 


10 


668 




8 


6 


1,422 




11 


10 


678 




9 


31 


1,453 


' 


12 


6 


684 


Pyramid lake. 


10 


40 


1,493 




13 


12 


696 




11 


24 


1,517 




14 


9 


705 




12 


15 


1,532 




15 


12 


717 




13 


27 


1,559 


Pass in the Sierra 


16 


18 


735 










Nevada. 


17 


22 


757 




14 


32 


1,591 




18 


8 


765 




15 


32 


1,623 




19 


18 


783 




17 


39 


1,662 




20 


5 


783 




18 


3 


1,665 




21 


24 


812 




19 


15 


1,680 




22 


14 


826 




20 


33 


1,713 


Spanish trail at Mo 


23 


25 


851 










hahvo river. 


24 


20 


871 




22 


20 


1,733 




25 


25 


89fi 




23 


33 


1,766 




27 


12 


908 




24 


8 


1,774 




28 


12 


920 




25 


25 


1,799 




29 


7 


927 




27 


43 


1,842 




30 


11 


938 




28 


12 


1,854 




31 


26 


964 




29 


7 


1,861 




Feb. 2 


16 


980 




80 


24 


1,885 


• 


3 


7 


987 




May 1 


15 


1,900 




i 


3 


990 




2 


13 


1,912 




7 


4 


994 




3 


18 


1,930 




8 


I 


995 




4 


57 


1,987 




10 


3 


998 




6 


18 


2,005 


Hio Virgen. 



278 



CAPT. FREMONT'S NARRATIVE. 

>, TABLE OF DISTANCES— Continued. 





2-1 


a 








a 

o . 




Date. 




S 


Localities. 


Date. 


|3 




Localities. 


1844. 


Miles. 


Miles. 




1844. 


Miles. 


Miles. 




May 7 


10 


2,015 




June 21 


19 


2,898 




8 


18 


2,033 




22 


15 


2,913 


Bayou Salade, (South 


9 


1 


2,034 










Park.) 


10 


24 


2,058 




23 


36 


2,949 




11 


12 


2,070 




24 


21 


2,970 




12 


14 


2,084 


Vegas de Santa Clara. 


25 


21 


2,991 




13 


15 


2,099 




26 


11 


3,002 




15 


21 


2,120 




27 


10 


3,012 




16 


17 


2,137 




28 


21 


3,033 




17 


17 


2,154 




29 


30 


3,063 


Pueblo, on the Ar- 


19 


27 


2,181 










kansas. 


20 


22 


2,203 




30 


37 


3,100 




21 


31 


2,234 




July 1 


33 


3,133 


Bent's fort. 


22 


23 


2,257 




5 


20 


3,153 




23 


12 


2,269 


Sevier river. 


6 


31 


3,184 




24 


23 


2,292 




7 


31 


3,215 




25 


32 


2,324 




8 


28 


3,243 


Head water of Smoky 


26 


9 


2,333 


Utah lake. 








Hill fork of the 


27 


22 


2,355 










Kansas. 


28 


25 


2,380 




9 


27 


3,270 




29 


25 


2,405 




10 


28 


3,298 




30 


31 


2,436 




12 


24 


3,322 




31 


16 


2,452 




13 


30 


3,352 




June 1 


16 


2,468 


) 


15 


10 


3,362 




2 


8 


2,476 




16 


23 


3,385 




3 


21 


2,497 


Uintah fort. 


17 


32 


3,417 




5 


26 


2,523 




18 


24 


3,441 




6 


15 


2,538 




19 


29 


3,470 




7 


30 


2,568 


Green river, (Brown's 


20 


29 


3,499 










hole.) 


21 


23 


3,522 




9 


36 


2,604 




22 


17 


3,539 




10 


30 


2,634 




23 


26 


3,565 




11 


30 


2,664 




24 


22 


3,587 




12 


26 


2,690 




25 


19 


3,606 




13 


26 


2,716 




26 


24 


3,630 




14 


23 


2,739 




27 


18 


3,648 




15 


25 


2,764 


New Park. 


28 


22 


3,670 


* 


16 


26 


2,790 




29 


12 


3,682 




17 


33 


2,823 


Old Park. 


30 


12 


3,694 




18 


13 


2,836 




31 


8 


3,702 


Kansas landing 


19 


16 


2,852 




Aug. 1 


7 


3,709 


Missouri river. 


20 


27 


^879 













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^s. OCT 89 




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INDIANA 46962 





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